


Drawn

by cairusvt



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Architect Kim Mingyu, Author Jeon Wonwoo, But before that we got Angst because we going alphabetical, Civil Engineer Lee Jihoon | Woozi, Domestic, Domestic Fluff, Established Choi Seungcheol | S.Coups/Lee Seokmin | DK, I Honestly Do Not Know HOw To Tag This Fic, I honestly hate myself for this like i for fucking real am bawling, ITS ABOUT THE YEARNING, Kim Mingyu is Whipped, Lots Of Angst because I Want Pain, M/M, MMingyu hates Wonwoo but also find him extremely fucking endearing, Multi, Pining, Wonwoo's love language? Words and warmth, most of this fic will be Mingyu having breakdowns in the Pool, slow burn but the intensity of its hotness is lava
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-11
Updated: 2021-02-07
Packaged: 2021-03-14 11:35:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 30,468
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28670094
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cairusvt/pseuds/cairusvt
Summary: All Mingyu knows is how to build: hands, lovingly calloused and graphite-stained, making something of himself for others. There's a degree in architecture hanging somewhere in his office on the 6th floor where he works for the biggest firm in the country, next to the photographs of his family and drawings from his nieces. Architectural plans are the 6th love language.But when architect Jeon, an old and well renowned architect, the man that started the firm that had given Mingyu the opportunity to create as freely as he does, asks Mingyu to design his son's and his fiance's soon to be forever home, Mingyu feels like thats too much of a burden for him.That is until he saw a familiar yet still painful smile looking back at him from his office.
Relationships: Jeon Wonwoo/Kim Mingyu, Jeon Wonwoo/Kim Mingyu/Lee Jihoon | Woozi, Jeon Wonwoo/Lee Jihoon | Woozi, Kim Mingyu/Lee Jihoon | Woozi
Comments: 22
Kudos: 52
Collections: Seventeen Rare Pair Fest: 2 Rare 2 Pair





	1. PRE-DESIGN SERVICES: PRE-FEASIBILITY STUDIES

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by Anonymous in the [SVTRarePairFest2](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/SVTRarePairFest2) collection. 



> i moved the fic prompt on the end notes so you can read the fic without too much of a spoiler but go chekc it out if you wanna see how the story will go! 
> 
> And have fun reading <3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pre-Feasibility Studies is part of the Pre-Design Services where it involves procurement, analysis, and use of secondary information gathered for the project to aid the Client in early decision-making. They represent the Architect's initial assessment of a project's soundness, allowing the Client to promptly explore available/readily identifiable directions/options.

Mingyu has never, not even once, thought of falling back on violence to solve anything in his life. Yeah, from the way he's built, people would assume that he would, but he likes the satisfaction of proving them wrong as much as he likes to keep out of any kind of confrontation. But right now? Yeah, Mingyu is one comment away from finally figuring out just how much his workout sessions with Seungcheol has actually helped in building up his punching strength.

"What about you Mingyu?" That got Mingyu to take all of his anger and flush it out of his system in one go.   
"Mingyu?" Jia speaks out,almost as if she didn't even acknowledge the fact that Mingyu is here. And, honestly, Mingyu won't be surprised if she can even see anything past her obviously fake bangs.   
"Mingyu's been awfully quiet since we started. I wanted to see if it's actually because he's thinking or if he's just still asleep." Mignyu loves Architect Jeon. He's like a father Mingyu had never had. Not that he doesn't love his own father but it's just, Mingyu really would have wanted a father who doesn't crack a joke every passing minute even if he's the only one who finds it funny.  
"The project is about a commercial establishment, though. Doesn't his expertise lie more on residential?" Jia, again, speaks out unprompted.   
"Isn't that the point of being a senior architect? Having a grasp on every field?" Mignyu asks back, surprising everyone including himself, and Jia flushes so hard in embarassment that Mingyu almost feels bad. 

Almost. 

"Actually I was thinking about something." Mingyu says, holding in his freak-out to keep himself look calm. "Which is?" Architect Jeon asks, encourages Mingyu, and Mignyu clears his throat. "If the concept would fit the project." Mingyu says and he hears a particularly annoying snort somewhere in the table. "Which concept is that? Sustainability?" Jia asks, smiling, and Mingyu smiles back. "That's a design consideration. And i guess i can see how some people could still mistake that but no. I meant modern architecture." Mingyu says and the whole table turns quiet. Great. His biggest and most prominent fear after heights has finally happened.

A quiet room with all the attention on him. 

Great. Fucking spectacular.

"Can you elaborate on that?" Architect Jeon says, giving Mingyu the most help he can by actually entertaining his thought and Mingyu swallows before clearing his throat.   
"Well, for one, the green strategies are nice. They fit commercial establishments, yes. But it would seem out of place. The building itself, I mean."   
"They're green strategies, Mingyu. They're meant to stand out."  
"Not necessarily." Architect Jeon adds and Mingyu smiles a bit at the support.  
"Like, old korean houses are built with the stone fire palces right next to the bedroom so the heat would reach under the bedroom, right?"   
"So a design that's not too modern to make it stand out but modern enough to still apply the building strategies we proposed." Architect Jeon says it like a statement. Summarizing what Mingyu's struggling to say, and Mingyu nods.  
"I like it. It's definitely gonna be a challenge to execute but the idea sounds wonderful." Architect Jeon says and Mingyu can feel at least three pairs of eyes glaring at him.  
"I guess no one would argue if I add Mingyu to the candidates of architect who could handle the project, then." Architect Jeon says and Mingyu feels like crying. Both the good and bad kind of crying.   
"Handle the... in Jeju?" Mingyu asks and architect Jeon smiles at him softly while he cries on the inside. 

Mingyu isn't really one for attention. He feels uncomfortable and a bit annoyed by it to be honest but he can't live with his job without even a little bit of attention always on him. "I really am honored. I am. But i think it's a bit too much for me. And my team just finished the lowcost HDB a week ago so we don't really need a new project so soon." Mingyu says and architect Jeon just watches him from where he's seated in his desk. "You're doing the rambling thing again." Architect Jeon says and Mingyu sighs. "You're making me nervous, sir." Mingyu admits and he laughs. "Look, I'm just adding your name there so Jia would get off your case. Now she doesn't have anything over you and yu two can continue on your normal bickering." Architect Jeon says and Mingyu sighs. "But I have another offer to you." Architect Jeon says and Mingyu feels even more anxious now.

  
"Please tell me it's true. That you're coming to Jeju." Seungcheol says before Mingyu could even take his seat and Mingyu sighs.   
"Boss said I can answer tomorrow and honestly i feel like he wants me to say yes." Mingyu admits and Seokmin sits next to Seungcheol infront of him and looks confused.  
"How is that a bad thing? Isn't it good that your boss trust you with a project? Is this an architect thing?" Seokmin asks and Mignyu frowns. He always asks if this is an architect of engineer thing when talking to both of them and Mingyu can't honestly blame him. Mingyu's ranted enough to both of them to receive this kind of response.   
"No. It's a Mingyu thing. He can't say no to Architect Jeon because he feels like he's his master Yoda or something." Seungcheol says and Mingyu frowns at Seungcheol and then goes back to frowning at his menu.  
"You did that a lot to your Design prof back in college too, by the way. Seokmin thought he was your sugar daddy for a while." Seungcheol says and Mingyu brings down his menu to gawk at them.  
"I said that in secrecy. And I only thought you were for, like, a day. I swear."   
"That's gross." Mingyu says and Seokmin sighs.   
"My point is, you can say no. I'm sure boss man would understand. It's all the way to Jeju, Mingyu." Mingyu sighs at Seungcheol's words and he brings down the menu completely and slouches in his seat.  
"It's not just the commercial strip, hyung. He's asking me to design his son's house if i don't get the project." Mingyu says and Seungcheol lets out a surprised choking sound.   
"What?!" Seungcheol screams and Seokmin looks around and smiles at the stares they're starting to get.   
"See? My reaction was totally normal." Mingyu says and he sighs.   
"Dude!"  
"Again, how is this a big deal." Seokmin asks and Mingyu smiles.   
"Think of it this way. Mingyu's boss is probably one of the best architects in this part of the country, right? "  
"Right."  
"And now he's asking Mingyu to be the architect of his son's house."  
"Oh. Okay?" Seokmin asks, still obviously confused.   
"Plus. If his son actually does not like my design i'm sure architect Jeon is never gonna see me as an architect ever again."  
"You're being dramatic." Seungcheol says.  
"He's being himself." Seokmin adds with a sigh at the end and Mingyu just slouches lower. Just then the waiter coems up their table and ask what would they want. Mingyu asks for a better life and Seokmin smiles at the waiter and adds "He'll have the Tokantsu combo with the ramen." 

Mingyu has spent majority of his young adult and adult life with Seokmin. And by default, he's spent majority of his adult life with Seungcheol as well. And he can't really blame anyone for that but himself, seeing as he's the reason they met in the first place, but Mingyu still thinks about how ugly his life would've turned out if it weren't for them. Seokmin has been with him since high school, draggin him along to wherever he goes, introducing Mingyu to everyone and figuratively grabbing him by the neck and ripping off his shy shell with just one hand. Mingyu appreciates it, really, but sometimes he's just too much. Even for Seungcheol.

Seungcheol, on the other hand, is the only friend Mingyu's made that wasn't because of Seokmin. He was couple of years older but only a year ahead of him in college. He found Mingyu sleeping on the book he was looking for in the library and he was nice enough to sit next to Mingyu when he breaks down, realizing he's slept through almost the entire day and that he's gonna end up failing and being a disapointment in everyone's life and he's gonna end up alone and old and homesless. 

Yeah, so Mingyu has always dramatic. But he thinks he was way off balance back then. 

"Hey." Seungcheol says, driving, and Mingyu looks up front to see him glancing at Mingyu through the rear view mirror. "Whatever you choose, i'm sure boss man would respect it as your decision." Seungcheol saysa nd Mingyu smiles. "Plus if you do say yes then you have me there, too." Seungcheol says and Seokmin laughs. "He's trying to con you into joining him because he doesn't want to be around all of those old people." Seokmin says and Mingyu laughs. "I really don't." Seungcheol adds and Mignyu thinks he has an answer now. 

  
Well he did.  
But seeing architect Jeon's son and said son's husband, Mingyu thinks the amount of freaking out he did to think of an answer was pretty much irrelevant.   
"Long time no see, Gyu." He says and Mingyu once again wants a better fucking life. 


	2. PRE-DESIGN SERVICES: FEASIBILTY STUDIES

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Feasibility Studies is the detailed analysis of the project based on pre-feasibility studies that will determine the viability of a proposed development. The studies will set the project against present and future trends to forecast how it will perform over times.

  
  
  


"You two know each other?" Architect Jeon asks and Mingyu wants to laugh. 

Does he know Lee Jihoon? Well, how do you actually qualify in knowing a person? Does obsessing over them your entire college life count? Tailing them after every class to stage a "coincidental" meet up by the gate which Mingyu knew Jihoon enough to know that he'll invite Mingyu out to eat because for some reason, Lee Jihoon is never not hungry and yet he's fit and hot and incredibly gorgeous. 

"You can say that." Mingyu says, smiling, and Mingyu only realizes the third person with Architect Jeon and Jihoon. And all at once it dawns on Mingyu. 

"I told you to pick an architect because I thought you wouldn't be biased." he said, sharp eyes glancing at Jihoon before raking up Mingyu's body like he's scanning him for faults before he nitpicks him and compares himself to him. To show Jihoon he was in the right path of life and Mingyu was just one fork in the road you never had to even look back on. 

Okay. 

Maybe Seokmin was right. that Mingyu  _ is _ dramatic. 

But God damn. Mingyu can't even hate the guy because just like Jihoon, he seems to be perfect in his own very unique way. 

"Mingyu, this is my son, Wonwoo and his fiance who you already know, Jihoon, who's gonna be the engineer of his own house because he and his husband are stubborn and won't trust me enough to give them a perfect engagement gift." Architect Jeon introduces his son and of course. They're engaged. Right. Perfect. Everything's perfect. Just grand. Mingyu want's nothing more than to shout for fucking joy. 

"It's nice to meet you." Mingyu says, swallowing thickly as he walks across the room to shake hands with the man who basically has everything Mingyu wished he had. 

"You're here to tell me about your answer, aren't you?" Architect Jeon asks and Mingyu smiles weakly. 

"About that..." Mingyu trails off and he makes the mistake of glancing at Architect Jeon's son and then at Jihoon and Mingyu internally sighs. 

"I'll do it. And if, and that's a very big if, I get the commercial strip project, I'd still like to handle this one, too. I'm... I'm really excited about it." Mingyu says and he hopes his smile was convincing enough. He hopes no one can see through it because he really wants nothing more than to dissolve into nothing as all three of them smile at him. 

"Well, the consultation room is empty this morning." Architect Jeon says and Mingyu nods. "Actually, I'll just get some of my stuff from my desk and I'll be right with you." Mingyu says and Architect Jeon nods. Mingyu turns, tries not to sprint out of the room, and pulls out his phone and messages Seungcheol as soon as he gets out. He hopes he still remembers what the message means and he silently prays that Seungcheol would save him. 

But no. God hates him. This is probably punishment because he spoke up during the meeting yesterday which proves that God really just wants Mingyu to shut up. 

As soon as he walks in the consultation room, mister perfect is standing by the window, looking out with his arms crossed over his chest and Mingyu can't help but sees how tight the sleeves are hugging his arms and how it contrasts the lean, slim waist he has. "Jihoon is out talking to some engineers back in my dad's office." he says and Mingyu nods. "That's alright. We can wait a bit." Mingyu says and Mingyu sits on the other side of the table. "Jihoon has told me a lot about you. And that's saying something given that it's only been like, five minutes." Wonwoo says and he laughs. Mingyu smiles and tries not to show too much emotion. "He's- We were really close back then. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have survived college without him." Mingyu admits and Wonwoo nods. His black hair was neatly styled to the side and a few strands on the front keep falling down and reaching the top of his glasses and Mingyu stares at it until Wonwoo clears his throat. "You know, you don't have to like, say yes if you don't want to. I just... You seemed a little uncomfortable about it earlier and I just thought you should know that you can say no." Wonwoo says, smiling softly at him, and Mingyu can't help but just smile back. "No I... I really do want to. I mean, I really was going to say yes. Jihoon just kind of, you know, caught me off guard." Mingyu says and Wonwoo's eyes on him kind of feels a little bit too much. "I guess there's a reason why you two didn't keep in touch, then?" Wonwoo asks and Mingyu tenses. 

Wonwoo eyes him, still. Smiling, yeah, but it doesn't ease the tension that's obviously in the air. "You could say that. But I think asking your fiance about it would be better seeing that even I don't know why." Mignyu says out of nowhere, shocking seemingly both of them by saying that and Wonwoo's smile disappears for a second before he smiles again. This time it's a lot less perfect. The sides of his lips just quirk up slightly as he takes off his glasses and Mingyu straightens out his back as he holds his stare. "Sorry. I didn't mean for it to come out like that. But Jihoon does seem to have some sort of trust invested in you so I hope for your sake that you won't fuck it up." Wonwoo says and Mingyu is just about to say something when the door opens and Jihoon walks in. He turns his gaze from one to the other and he smiles. "Did I miss something?" Jihoon asks and Mingyu smiles and shakes his head. "Just getting to know each other. I need as much information about you two as I can to help design a house that's perfect for both of you." Mingyu says and he smiles at Wonwoo and then at Jihoon. 

Jihoon's smile hasn't changed a bit. It's still a bit dorky in the way his face always makes it out to be and it's still cute as hell. He takes a seat next to Wonwoo and Mingyu tries not to stare at the way Wonwoo immediately has his arm around his back. Mingyu distracts himself by initiating the meeting the same way he would with any client and he smiles through all of it. Smiles when he asks questions and smiles when he takes notes of their answers. Four bedrooms, one master bedroom and three guestrooms, a small office for each of them, Wonwoo asking for more space for his collection of books and Jihoon asking for more drafting area, and then the standard living room dining room and kitchen. "Oh, actually." Wonwoo says and Mingyu takes a deep breath as he turns and smiles at him. "I uh, I really like a lot of windows." Wonwoo says and Mingyu blinks. "Back when we had a signing tour in the Philippines our hotel room had like, those floor to ceiling windows in our bedroom and I just really liked it for some reason. And If you can like, extend it to the ceiling as well so there'd be a little, like, glass roof? I don't know if I'm making sense but yeah. It doesn't even have to be big, really. Just a little part of the house like that, maybe?" Wonwoo asks and Mingyu takes notes and smiles. "Of course. And I haven't seen the lot yet so I'm not sure about the size yet but would you guys want any space for the yard?" Mingyu asked and both of them looked at each other and laughed. Mingyu grips his pencil a bit harder under the table as he watches and it's quite pathetic how envious he is of just that. "We're not really an outdoor activities kind of couple." Wonwoo says and Jihoon nods. "But maybe a workout room? Like, just a little room for occasional workout sessions?" Jihoon suggests and Mingyu nods and takes notes. 

Mingyu makes a few notes on which goes where and what goes next to this and he smiles at the couple as he closes his notebook and pulls out one of his business cards and pushes it towards them against the table. "Well that's basically it for now, really. I'll get the lot and everything from architect Jeon and if you have any more requests or questions feel free to contact me." Mingyu says and he gets up and bows. They follow him, standing up and bowing to him as well, and Mingyu smiles at them, letting his gaze linger a second longer as he smiles at Jihoon, and he excuses himself. He walks out calmly, walks steadily as he heads for the bathroom, and then he sets his journal and his phone next to the sink as he lets out a heavy breath. He splashes his face with cold water, loosens his tie a bit, and takes another deep breath. 

Holy fuck. 

Mingyu looks at himself in the mirror, thankful that he's wearing his best work shirt today, a plain light blue one that he paired off with a navy blue necktie, and he sighs as he fixes his hair. He pulls out a few paper towels to dry his hair and face and he fixes his tie and shirt before fixing his hair. He still feels a bit choked up so he pulls his neck tie off completely and rolls up his sleeves until before his elbows and he walks out of the bathroom with his back straight, his chest out, and his tongue in between his teeth to keep himself from passing out. He manages to get to his office, turning the notice on the door as busy, so that he won't be bothered for a while and if he would, they'd at least knock before bursting in his office, and then he flops on his desk and lets out a heavy sigh. "Fuck." Mingyu says and he closes his eyes. His phone starts vibrating on his desk and he blindly reaches for it and answers the call. 

"Dude. There's no fucking way this is real." Mingyu hears Seungcheol and he sighs. "Can we go out for drinks later? I am in terrible need to not think for twenty four hours." Mingyu says and Seugncheol laughs. "I already called Seokmin and told him you're staying the night. All I had to say was Jihoon was your client and he's automatically okay with cancelling karaoke night." Seungcheol says and Mingyu laughs. "Let's reschedule karaoke tomorrow night so we can get wasted on a friday night. Please." Mingyu asks and Seungcheol says he'll confirm with Seokmin. Mingyu ends the call and goes back to sulking in his seat while already drafting a schematic plan for the house.

Mingyu locks himself in his office for the good part of the day, only coming out during their lunch break and scurrying off to the engineering department to tail Seungcheol out of the office and drive down three blocks away to get take out and then went back to Mingyu's office to eat in peace. Mingyu tells Seungcheol everything. A bit more dramatic, yeah, but Seungcheol knows how to filter Mingyu's stories by now. Mingyu then shows Seungcheol the schematic plans he's made and he looks at Mingyu a certain way and then hands the paper back to Mingyu. "Mingyu, i think... Do you really want to do this? Design the happily ever after house Jihoon is gonna have with his soon to be husband?" Seungcheol asks and Mingyu tenses. He sighs, smiles, and then flips over the paper. "This is the version of the version two." Seungcheol stares, analyzes everything, and gawkes at Mingyu. "This is all the more reason for you to back out." Seungcheol says and Mingyu smiles. "I'm not that stupid, hyung. And besides, I need the credit. It'll be good on my profile. The Architect Jeon asking young architect Kim Mingyu to design his very own son's home. I can't wait for my BluPrint feature." Mingyu says and Seungcheol snorts. "Are you gonna say some half-assed message about the ruins of your love for Jihoon being the foundation of your designs for their house?" Seungcheol asks and Mingyu glares at him. 

And one thing people know about Mingyu is his knack for completely immersing himself into one thing for a long period of time that you have to physically pull him out of it. So by nightfall, Mingyu looks up from his desk to see Seungcheol smiling at him. And then it takes him a moment to realize that it is in fact already nightfall, and then he stands up, takes a step back, and stares at the parchment paper that's been mauled by his pencil and pen, some pencil shavings still surrounding the crime scene here and there, and Seungcheol walks up to his table to stare at it as well. "I know I joke about it a lot, but maybe love really is a good foundation for a design." Seungcheol says and Mingyu huffs. Then Mingyu takes one more look at the perspective and the barely legible floor plan at the sides and he feels like crying. "Come on. Seokmin's already on his way home and we're supposed to buy the drinks while he handles the food." Seungcheol says and Mingyu lets out a deep breath and just grabs for his wallet and his phone and throws them in his bag before turning off the lamp on his table and dragging Seungcheol out of the room. He asks Seungcheol if he can just leave his car and ride with him tonight and Seungcheol nods. Mingyu leaves his car in the office parking lot for the night, notifying the guard by the lobby, and letting himself blank out as Seungcheol drives home. Seokmin welcomes them with a stern look that he fails to hold out for more than a minute and he kisses Seungcheol by the door as Mingyu flops on their sofa. "You two go take a shower or something. Especially you. You look like you murdered a bunch of pencils and lied on their shaved corpse." Seokmin says to him and Mingyu frowns. "He's sensitive." Seungcheol says, hugging Seokmin from behind, and Seokmin crosses his arms over Seungcheol's. "Sure. I had to handle a field trip today. Two dozen seven year olds running around a museum. None of your corporate bullcrap can top that." Seokmin says and Mingyu sighs. "My client is my boss who wants me to design a house for his son who happens to be engaged to the one and only Lee Jihoon." Mingyu says and Mingyu lets his head fall back on the armrest to watch Seokmin's eyes bulge out of his eyes. "It's true. And Jihoon's going to be the engineer with Mingyu." Seungcheol says and Mingyu's mind finally catches up and adds that to his migraine. "Oh wow.  _ Damn _ . Alright, I'll make that fire noodle thing you like while you shower." Seokmin says and Mingyu sighs. "Stop acting like my parents." Mingyu says and Seokmin moves forward and holds Mingyu's head to kiss his forehead. "It's okay, baby. Go freshen up and both of your dads will be here to talk, okay?" Seokmin says and Mingyu groans. 

Dinner was amazing and comforting. Wearing Seungcheol's shirt and Seokmin's pajamas, eating on the living room floor next to Seungcheol as Seokmin eats on the sofa behind them, drinking beer as they let the T.V. play in the background of their conversation. And Mingyu's not gonna admit it, but he does feel a bit too old for this. Staying over your bestfriends' house, eating dinner, having quality time that they could be having for themselves. Mingyu knows he's welcomed and he always will be. But he can't help but feel pathetic. Seungcheol and Seokmin are just a few million won away from talking about starting their family, adopting a kid who's going to know Mingyu as uncle Minnie who is alone in his forties, playing golf with other architects, adopting two dogs, maybe, one big one and a small one. Maybe a golden retriever. Or a German Shepard. Not a chihuahua, though. Those things hate him. But yeah. His best friends have their life sorted out. They're striving for a goal and they're striving for it together. And then you'll see Mingyu hanging by the ledge of that plan. A loose thread that stands out to everyone but the one wearing the shirt. Mingyu smiles as Seokmin tells a rather disgusting event involving a plastic bottle and a kid who has motion sickness. He laughs as Seungcheol tries the fire noodles even though he knows he can't take it and he tears up just from one bite. 

  
  
  
  


Mingyu and Seungcheol find themselves positioned in a way that's become more familiar and more home-like to them than any of the places they've stayed in. Mingyu on the sofa, sitting up with his laptop on his lap and his back on the armrest while Seungcheol sits on the floor with his own laptop on the coffee table, leaning back on the sofa. They've gotten used to this kind of setup since they were in college, when Mingyu and Seokmin were roommates and Seungcheol was just a cool senior who thought the two of them were cool. They've been in this position ever since Seungcheol officially moved in Seokmin's room, officially admitting that he's been hanging out with Mingyu all to get to Seokmin and Seokmin hitting him in the arm when he says that. And they still find themselve like this now, twenty-five, twenty-seven years old, but still drinking the same coffee and eating the same chips to keep themselves awake. Seokmin has said his good night an hour after midnight and he kisses Seungcheol and asks him to not work too hard and then he slams a pillow on Mingyu's face and scolds him to sleep or he'll put viagra in his morning coffee. Mingyu asks why they would even have Viagra and Seokmin huffs and slams his door, yelling good night through the door. Seungcheol starts explaining his too intimate and too personal reason on why they're using viagra to "last longer" and Seokmin comes out of the room and screams good night again. 

By three forty-five in the morning. Mingyu lies on the sofa with his laptop on his chest and he lets Seungcheol scan it as he stands next to the sofa, sipping his coffee. "You're really something." Seungcheol says and Mingyu laughs. "I mean it. Jesus, Mingyu, i'll buy this plan from you for myself if I can afford to have it built. You sure you're not still hung up on Jihoon?" Seungcheol asks and Mingyu sighs. "Shut up." "I mean it. Seokmin told me this before and I guess I never noticed it much before but you do your work extremely well when you're like, emotionally invested. Probably why you kept winning design contests for specific causes and everything." Seungcheol says and he takes his laptop from his chest and walks back to his spot on the floor. "What's this with the walls in the study?" Seungcheol asks and Mingyu smiles. "That's for Wonwoo, Architect Jeon's son. He says he likes windows. So I'm basically making his study as a greenhouse type but I'm, like, grafting it on the house. Like, everything is reinforced concrete but this part." Mingyu explains and Seungcheol nods. "That could work. Lots of details though. And not exactly kid proof." Seungcheol says and Mingyu blinks. "What?" "What? They're getting married, right? Didn't they say if they wanted kids?" Seugncheol asks and Mingyu shakes his head no. "They asked for three bedrooms and a master bedroom." Mingyu says and Seungcheol grabs the pencil on top of his laptop and points it at Mingyu. "Ask. You can probably ask them tomorrow so be sure to call them. But other than that, just... Wow." Seungcheol kept staring at his floor plans and Mingyu laughed as he took his laptop back from him. Mingyu then bothers Seungcheol with his own projects and after half an hour of that, both of them called it a night and Seungcheol tells him to move to the guest room as he walks to his and Seokmin's room but Mingyu just shifts himself comfortably on the sofa. 

That morning, Mingyu takes the liberty of making breakfast for the three of them and showering as he waits for the two to wake up. Mingyu smiles as the couple emerges from their room with ruffled hair and a confused dazed look as they stare at food. Mingyu rolls his eyes as he pours them their coffee and after breakfast, when they're both finally awake, Mingyu tells them he'll take the bus to go back home to change and before Seungcheol could offer to drive him, he walks out of their lovely home with his pants from the day before and he walks to the bus stop and waits for it with his earphones on. Work doesn't start until nine in the morning and seeing as it's only seven and he's already home, he figures he can take the leisurely way to work. So he changes, fixes his hair, and then makes himself coffee he can take to the office in his thermos, and goes out to take the bus to work. He opted for a more laid back but very formal outfit. A plain white button up again but with his very posh looking gray cardigan that Minghao has said was designer, and it sort of made him miss him a little bit. Mingyu hasn't taken the bus in quite a while and he smiles at the little girl sitting in front of him who keeps turning to look at him. 

By the time he reaches the office, though, his nice day gets a bit of a bump. 

He greets everyone as he usually does as he makes his way to his office and he sees one of the junior architects, Chan, running after him. He's a little high strung, nothing unusual in an architectural firm, really, but he is as passionate in design as he is with public performances. Mingyu remembers that his resume was probably the most unusual one he's ever seen before and Mingyu's glad he took a risk in giving him a yes. But right now he wants nothing more than to strangle him with his own laptop charger. 

Mingyu had already opened the door to his office when Chan had reached him and what welcomes Mingyu in his own office is The Lee Jihoon himself, standing next to his desk and looking down on his still very much laid out rough draft from the night before. "Architect Jeon said to let him in your office." Chan says next to Mingyu, panting, and Mingyu smiles at him. "I can see that now, Chan. Thank you." Mingyu says and Chan smiles before bowing and scurrying off back to his desk. Mingyu clears his throat as he walks up to his desk and Jihoon looks startled, like he's caught doing something he shouldn't and he smiles as he walks around Mingyu's desk on the other side to stand in front of it as Mingyu sets his bag on his chair. "I didn't think anyone would be here at this hour." Mingyu starts and Jihoon laughs, awkwardly, and Mingyu almost sighs out loud. "Sorry, I probably should've called ahead." Mingyu shakes his head no and asks him to take a seat. "Actually, it's quite alright. I was going to call anyways." Mingyu says and Jihoon's face breaks into shock and then confusion. "You were?" Jihoon asks and Mingyu nods. He pulls out his journal from his bag and he flips through the page he sets out for this project. "I forgot to ask yesterday if you guys were maybe thinking of kids in the future." Mingyu asks and Jihoon just stares at him, blinks, and then clears his throat. "Oh, uh.. Mingyu I'm- I'm not here for, you know, that." Jihoon says and now it's time for Mingyu to be confused. "I just... It's been so long. I wanted to ask if we could maybe catch up?" Jihoon asks and Mingyu just stares. "Catch up?" Mingyu says back and Jihoon at least looked a bit embarrassed. "Uhm, look." Mingyu says, shutting his journal close and setting it aside. "I know we have, like, a lot to catch up on. With you being engaged and all. But i don't feel comfortable doing it on my actual work hours. And I have to maintain a professional relationship with my clients so I hope you understand." Mingyu says and Jihoon nods. "Right. Right. Shit, sorry. Uhm. I'll just, uh. I'll just go. And uh, I'll just contact you then?" Jihoon asks and Mingyu wants to laugh at how ironic that one line is. "Sure. But only if you have the time." Mingyu finds himself saying and he pretends to fix his desk as Jihoon gets up and leaves. "Oh, and about the kids?" Mingyu asks and Jihoon stops by the door and Mingyu watches as he visibly sighs. "We'll get back to you on that one." Jihoon says and he closes the door. 

Mingyu groans as the door closes and he turns his chair around to face the window and he slumps on his seat. "What the fuck?" Mingyu mumbles to himself and he tries to keep himself breathing. A couple of minutes later Seungcheol comes into his office, talking about lunch or something, and he only notices that something is wrong when he gets to Mingyu's desk. "What happened? Where did Good Mood Mingyu go? Come on, man. I need him this Friday." Seungcheol says and Mingyu groans. "He's dead. Jihoon just came in and snapped his neck." Mingyu says and Seungcheol sighs. Mingyu turns and finds him looking down at him with his big brother eyes and Mingyu sighs. "It's okay. You can let it all out in Karaoke later tonight." Seugncheol says and Mingyu sighs. He may be single and little miserable but at least he can afford the comfort and support that a shitty microphone paired with cheap beer could provide. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so  
> OBVIOUSLY these two chapters are only the introduction of the fic. (I originally just wanted to post the first chapter but I feel like that's not enough so here it is)  
> AND  
> The fic will talk more about WHO Jihoon was to Mingyu and vice versa, and we'll also get to know more about Jihoon and Wonwoo. ALSO the side seokcheol is def self indulgent but who doesn't like a hint of healthy and loving established ship in a mostly angsty, moody fic? Am I right??


	3. PRE-DESIGN SERVICES: SPACE PLANNING/SPACE ALLOCATION

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Space planning/Space Allocation is part of the Pre-Design Services wherein the Architect determines the adequate size and appropriate configuration and assemblage for a proposed project in consideration of the use, allocation and interface of spaces for given activities. It is done mainly through primary data gathering such as interviews, consultations, interfaces, focus group discussions( (FGDs), Space planning surveys, space audits, etc. and subsequent analyses i.e. spatial layouts with stacking concepts, particularly for multi-storey structures.

  
  
  


Mingyu can feel something ringing in his ear and it's making his head feel twice as heavy. He can feel himself breathing but he's basically been breathless for a good half hour now and smiling through it all just makes all of it all the more painful. "You okay?" someone asks him and Mingyu nods and smiles and laughs. But he's far from being in any way fine. 

"I mean, I wasn't expecting it to be me, you know? I'm not credible enough. I work with residential buildings most of the time. A commercial project isn't really something I'll excel at, you know?" Mingyu says and he turns his head and finds Chan smiling at him. "It's okay, hyung. I know you were excited about it. But at least you got that big project for architect Jeon's son, right?" Chan asks and Mingyu nods. Chan is sitting in front of his desk as Mingyu paces around the floor and he's nice enough to hear Mingyu out so early in the morning. "Right. But, I mean. Did I really want it? A project as big as that scares the shit out of me." Mingyu says and Chan shrugs. "But it's exciting." Chan says and Mingyu sighs. "I mean, yeah. Plus I didn't want to be greedy handling two projects at once, right?" Mingyu asks and Chan laughs as he nods. "Right. And you have time to sight see in Jeju now." Chan says and Mingyu blinks. "Right." 

Then Chan's words sinks in. "Why would I be in Jeju?" Mingyu asks and Chan stares. "The project is in Jeju." Chan says and Mingyu nods. "Yeah but I didn't get the big project." Mingyu says and Chan blinks. "No, hyung, the house. Architect Jeon's son's house. That's in Jeju, too. The whole team has been buzzing about which junior architect you'll take with you. Didn't you see the lot?" Chan asks and of course Mingyu saw the lot. But he was focused on transferring his initial design onto the lot that he didn't pay any much attention to it aside from the measurements and the shape. "It's in Jeju?" Mingyu asks and Chan nods. "At least you know Seungcheol hyung, right?" Chan asks and Mingyu feels his knees get weak. "The house is in Jeju." "Yup." Chan answers and Mingyu's brain finally starts working. "That's why architect Jeon said i can have this other project if i didn't have the other. Because they're in the same location." Mingyu says and Chan nods, slowly. "I feel like you're gonna need time to process this. I'll go and give you an hour before i start accepting people at your door." Chan says, because he's an angel, and Mingyu sighs. He thanks Chan and watches as Chan leaves his office.

Okay. So. On the bright side, his week long mental preparations for going to Jeju will not be going to waste. But there is still the fact that Mingyu will have two weeks in Jeju to redesign the house after seeing the actual lot and also, dealing with Jihoon. 

  
  


Now, Mingyu isn't one to lash out or act out. Seungcheol has reprimanded him for being so because even when Mingyu is on the right, he just can't handle the fact that he has to fight in an argument to prove that he's right. It's just all too emotionally draining for Mingyu. 

Well, it was. 

After Jihoon's surprise visit, Mingyu had met up with the couple for a couple more times. The first one being the Monday after that. He showed them a more refined schematic plan for the house and they both seem to like the idea of it all. Mingyu would even go as far as to say that he got on Wonwoo's good side when he explained to him how his little library would look like with the glass wall and ceiling. And it just kept going great after that. Mingyu explains why their bedroom is in this area and why that side has more windows than this, and it all seems to work perfectly for them. But it kind of felt a bit off when Mingyu eventually asks them about the one thing he never even wanted to ask to begin with. 

"What?" Wonwoo asks and Mingyu smiles shyly. "It's just for the plans. I can make the house a lot more suitable for kids if you guys are planning to have some in the future. "Oh. Uhm. What would thing you would change, if ever?" Wonwoo asks and Jihoon scoffs. "Why would you even asks that." "I'm just asking. No harm in seeing what could be the difference." Wonwoo counters and Mingyu suddenly feels like he shouldn't even be in this conversation to begin with. "Well, I would definitely take all the sharp edges off on the counters and some built in furnitures." Mingyu says and Mingyu opens his tab and clicks on his folder to show the differences and he looks up to them to see Wonwoo staring at the tab intently and Jihoon just staring back at him. "I kind of like the way the kitchen looks in here. It's not just boxes and rectangles and counters in the middle. What's that again?" "The Island?" "Yeah thet. I like how it tapers off. Can we do something like that in the kitchen? But like, don't change anything else and just maybe the shape of the counters?" Wonwoo asks and he pulls back and turns to Jihoon. "That would be do-able." Mingyu says and he screenshots the photo and edits it to write a note on the edge. "But, is that all? So like, no kids?" Mingyu asks and Wonwoo smiles at him the same time Jihoon looks away. "We're not really seeing a way we could navigate around raising a kid with the way we live. We're still kind of stuck to how we were right out of college and I'm afraid we feel like we never outgrew that part of us." Wonwoo says, smiling, and Mingyu understands that. Mingyu is the same, really. And he could see it in his friends too. "I get that. I mean, I love my sister's kids and I think I could do great with kids. But I just can't see myself raising one myself." Mingyu says and now it's Jihoon's turn to lean forward. "You used to say you wanted at least two kids." Jihoon says and something about Jihoon bringing up something from their past kind of infuriates Mingyu. So Mingyu smiles and shrugs. "That was me fantasizing. We were kids back then, hyung. We grow up and we change." Mingyu says and immediately regrets it when he feels the air shift around the three of them. 

Mingyu clears his throat, fixes his files and papers on the table, and smiles. "Well, I guess that'd be all for today." Mingyu says. He figured apologizing now would just confirm to the two of them that Mingyu did mean something about it but he didn't. He's just saying it how it is. He shakes their hand, thanks them for their time, and escorts them out of the room and lets Chan help them out to the elevator. 

The second time they met up was a day after that. Mingyu showed them a basic plan of the house and told them about the finished elevations coming soon and Wonwoo seems to like the revised kitchen. "Also i did put up more windows but since you two don't like the sun that much I wanted to ask if you want something permanent to act as a shade or maybe something you can put up or down whenever you like?" Mingyu asks and Wonwoo laughs before asking for the "not permanent one". Mingyu then promised that he was gonna run this plan with architect Jeon so they'll know it's at least more than a decent design, and Wonwoo thanked him. "I can see why dad was relieved when Jihoon chose you as the architect. You're amazing at this." Wonwoo says and Mingyu can see that Wonwoo genuinely means it. "Maybe if I wanted to write about a passionate architect i should just come back to you." Wonwoo says and Mingyu laughs. "I don't think your father would like that you'd go to me first instead of him." Mingyu says and Wonwoo laughed. Mingyu walks them down to the elevator himself this time and he at least can see Jihoon smiling with them. "I'll get in touch with you as soon as i have an update." Mingyu says and Mingyu bows as the elevator doors close. 

  
  


"Hey? You still there?" Seungcheol's voice shakes him off of his daze and Mingyu blinks. "Sorry. What?" "Dinner. Chan said your team is going out for dinner. You okay?" Seungcheol asks and Mingyu stretched his arms up from where he's seated and Seungcheol walks around to stand behind his chair. He hears Seungcheol hum and turns only to see him staring at Mingyu's screen. "You know that you're gonna have to redo all that when you want to change something in the plan after we get there, right?" Seungcheol asks and Mingyu stares at his 3D model and tilts his head. "Not really. I'll just make some adjustments to it." Mingyu says and Seungcheol laughs. "You're making us all look bad, you know?' Seungcheol asks and Mingyu huffs. "You do that way to easily regardless of what i do." Mingyu says and Suengcheol pinches his neck. "Allright hot shot. Come on out. It's not good to keep your team waiting." Seungcheol says and he takes Mingyu's coat and goes out of his room. Mingyu saves his files a couple of times to his desktop and then his flash drive before turning his P.C. off and then he shoves all of his papers together and sticks it inside his journal before shoving that in his bag. Mignyu turns everything off, makes sure his drawers are locked, and then goes out with his bag in his hand. 

Seungcheol hands him his coat as he gets out, holding his bag for him as Mingyu puts it on, and Mingyu laughs as all five members of his team start chanting Mingyu's name for no reason at all and Seungcheol does as well. Because he's insufferable. Mingyu promised to pay for two rounds of drinks and food and nothing more and then he turned to Seungcheol and told him he's paying for his own food. Chan leads their group out of the building and they all decide to just walk to the closest restobar they all love just two streets away and those who came in with their cars would just have to leave them here until tomorrow. Mingyu told Seungcheol to call Seokmin to join them but Seokmin already got plans for the night. "Did you think i would join you if my Seokmin was free?" Seungcheol says and Mingyu's fake gag doesn't even feel too fake as he did it.

And their night was a lot louder than Mingyu's dinner usually goes and Mingyu can't help but like it. Mingyu's promised two rounds were all both served at the same time and everyone laughed as Mingyu just smiled and thanked the server instead of telling them what he really meant. Chan then gets up, calls for the server, and talks to him about a few feet away from their table and then the server comes back with him and takes back their second round of drinks and Mingyu thanks Chan as he takes his seat. It was well past ten in the evening when they all started ordering more food and drinks for them and somehow it feels like they're all trying to beat Mingyu in buying everyone food. Mingyu was then bullied into joining them for their game of truth or drink and Mingyu figured it won't be that bad. 

"Lee Chan. My man." Seungcheol screams, not loud enough to get them kicked out but loud enough to have all of them lowering their heads in shame. "Now, you didn't hear this from me, but I know a few people from our department who have the same story of being totally rejected by you but they can't even hate you because, well, you're perfect." Seungcheol says and Mingyu laughs at how every head turns to a now furiously red Chan. "Hyung. Not- It's not like that." Chan argues but Seungcheol shushes him and then tells him to shut up. "Now what I want to know is, is there a special someone that has you breaking all these hearts in our department?" "It's not just your department, i can tell you that." Seungyeon says from across Chan and Chan groans as everyone lets out dramatic gasps. "Lee  _ fucking  _ Chan." Seungcheol screams again and everyone just about loses it when Chan reaches for the glass and takes the shot. Mingyu laughs as everyone stares, laughing and screaming, and Seungcheol was even clapping so loud Mingyu had to hold him back from standing. Chan spins the bottle again and Mingyu's laughter dies down as the head of the bottle stops pointing at him. 

"I'll let you guys have this one." Seungcheol says, grabbing his beer and smirking as he drinks. "Okay. We're honestly so confused about this but we heard from somewhere that you know architect Jeon's son's husband?" "Fianc é ." Mingyu corrects her and Seungcheol nudges him under the table. "Is that the question?" Mingyu asks, smiling, and they all panicked and said no. "Did you two have a past?" Chan asks from the end of the table and Mingyu blinks. He stares at the glass in the middle of the table, thinking if he should drink or not. "Yeah. He and I used to go to the same university together." Mingyu says, because taking a shot would be worse than answering, anyways. "And we did end up dating for a while but it ended when he graduated." Mingyu says and he smiles as everyone stares at him. "Oh wow. And now you're designing his house with his soon-to-be husband." Seungyeon says and Mingyu smiles. "I'll drink to that." Chan says and Mingyu smiles at him and raises his bottle to him. Everyone raises their drinks towards the center of the table and Chan says, "To architect Mingyu." Everyone follows after that and Mingyu smiles. 

The groups dispersed into their own separate ways towards their homes and Mingyu finds himself walking with Chan towards the bus stop they both have to take. Chan reminds him of what he needs to finish before the weekend ends and Mingyu laughs at him. "It's Friday night and we're bordering on drunkenness. It's literally the best time to talk about anything but work." Migyu says and Chan huffs. "First of all,  _ you're _ bordering on drunkenness. I'm fine. And I don't really know what else to talk about." Chan admits and Mingyu smiles. "Well, do you like cats?" Mingyu asks and chan smiles warily. "Not really. I'm more of a dog person." Chan says and Mingyu nods. "Same. I wanted to get one but i don't think i'll be a good owner if i'm working almost twenty hours a day." Mingyu says and Chan nods. "Completely understandable. I mean. I still feel like I'm in a dorm, to be honest." Chan says and Mingyu laughs. "Maybe if you make a move on whoever that person is you would feel like some things change." Mingyu suggests and Chan laughs. "I wish. He's way out of my league." Chan says and Mingyu snorts. "What? I mean it. I may make myself sound confident most of the time but that's just so you old people would take me seriously." Chan says and Mingyu pushes him by the shoulder. "I'm like, just a couple of years older than you, Chan." Mingyu says and Chan shrugs. "Still old." Chan says and Mingyu rolls his eyes. 

The two of them keep talking on the bus stop, both of them leaning on each other as they wait for the bus on their feet because of the group of students crowding the seats and Mingyu had to drag Chan inside when he keeps insisting that the bus is already full. Mingyu managed to find a seat inside and told Chan to sit while he stood by him and asked him whatever he could. And Mignyu realizes that in the year that they've had Chan in their team, he never realized how he doesn't know much about him. How he's the oldest sibling. His dream of becoming an idol when he was young. Being televised when he was young. Mingyu laughs as he looks up the clip and finds a tiny version of Chan dancing as soon as he wakes up and Mingyu can't help but smile at the way Chan was blushing. The guy next to Chan eventually gets off and Chan pulls Mingyu down to sit next to him. They ended up talking more about classes they took back in their college days until they reached their stop and Mingyu would've missed it if it weren't for Chan. Mingyu laughs as they get off and Mingyu smiles as Chan tells him he's going the opposite way he is. "Thanks for the dinner, hyung." Chan says and Mingyu likes it. He hasn't made a friend in a long time and he forgot how great it was. "Next time you guys wanna go out, don't invite me if you're just gonna ask me to pay." Mingyu says and Chan laughs. "But I had fun, too." Mingyu says and Chan flashes him a bright smile. He then bows his head and turns slowly before walking away. Mingyu heads home and messages Seungcheol that he's safe at home. 

  
  


"What?" " _ I know! That’s what i fucking said! _ " "No, Mingyu. i meant, like... I didn't catch what you said." Seungcheol says from the other end of the phone call and Mingyu huffs as he paces around his bedroom. "I said architect Jeon is asking me to be the Architect-of-record AND as Construction Manager." Mingyu says and then Seungcheol audibly sighs and then after a couple of seconds he laughs. "You know, you do this annoying thing where you talk about this good thing but make it sound like you're about to  _ fucking  _ die?" Seungcheol asks and Mingyu groans. "Look, it's Sunday morning. Seokmin was going to call you to say we're coming over to cook and drink this expensive red wine Minghao sent him and he bought steak last night that  _ you  _ can cook for dinner." Seungcheol says and Mingyu huffs. "Why did he get something from Minghao and i didn't?" "We have it. We didn't open it or anything so you can do that later. So don't lose your head for the hour we need to get there, okay?" Seungcheol asks and Mingyu sighs. "Fine. Fine, okay. Be careful on your way here." Mingyu ends the call and sits on the edge of his bed. He sees the groupchat their team has and everyone congratulating him just makes him even more anxious. 

Mingyu has managed a lot of his projects. Almost all of them, really. But this feels a little too much for him. His self preservation reflex is telling him to say thank you, but no thank you and just finish the plans and and sections and elevations. Have Chan do the Site Development Plan because he's amazing at adding details. Divide the work for editing and letting them add what they think is necessary for the project. And then hand it to Wonwoo and Jihoon after spending maybe a week or a week and a half in Jeju before flying home and continuing in living his best life as a professional architect who just feels slightly miserable every Saturday and sometimes on Wednesday nights. But all in all that's an almost picture perfect life for him. Couldn't ask for more. 

But now the thought of spending the entirety of the construction phase with Jihoon and Wonwoo is living in Mingyu's mind. The thought of Mingyu literally building the foundation for their house and quite possibly the foundation to their future together. Mingyu can't take it. 

He's happy for Jihoon. He truly is. It hurts and Mignyu thinks it's not fucking fair. How Jihoon broke off their happily ever after and managed to find it again with another man. It's not fair. But that's how life works. When life gives you lemons, sometimes it's life shaking your hand and handing it to you liek a present. And sometimes it's life grabbing your jaw and shoving that whole lemon down your throat. Either way, Life did give you lemons. But Mingyu's straying from his point. His point is, It's cool. Jihoon is happy. Soon to be married to a well educated attractive man who's set for life the same way Jihoon is. They're a picture perfect couple. But the least Mignyu can do for himself is not be a part of that. 

Mingyu likes to think of himself to be a good person. But he's not sadistic. He's not going to watch Jihoon get his life together by standing next to Jihoon's perfect husband. 

"Yikes. You're a lot worse looking than I hoped you'd be." Seokmin says when Mingyu opens the door and Mingyu watches as he opens his arms and waits for Mingyu to hug him. Seokmin pushes them in, still patting Mingyu's back, as Seungcheol walks in and closes the door behind him. "So, we have steak for dinner, crazy expensive wine that I most certainly made Seokmin hold like a baby while I drove, and the ingredients to make three pizzas to each of our liking for lunch." Seungcheol says and Mingyu grabs him by the shoulder and ignores Seungcheol screaming about the wine as he hugs him too. 

Seungcheol leaves everything they need for the pizza on the dining table and puts everything else on the fridge as Seokmin pushes Mingyu towards his couch and forces him to sit. He pulls back his bag and pulls out a huge brown carton box with a black electric tape covering the edges. "I was told to film so," Seokmin pulls out his phone, "you're on camera on three, two, and." Seokmin winks and holds out his phone. Seungcheol comes by and hands him his kitchen shears and Mingyu cuts the tape off and smiles at the drawings at the flap of the box. Minghao's doodles are always so flashy and Mingyu misses seeing them on his table. Mingyu pulls out another bubble-wrapped box inside and sets the scissors down and looks for the edge of the tape to unravel the bubble wrap instead of just cutting it. Mingyu blinks as the packaging inside gets more and more legible as the layers of bubble wrap unravel and Mingyu screams as he finally reads it. " _ No fuckign way!? Minghao! _ " Mingyu screams and he looks up the camera and beams as he opens the box. "He told me there are film packs inside and, you know, the actual camera. So maybe don't tip it over and just keep seated." Seokmin says and Mignyu smiles as he opens it. "Oh my God! I'm actually fucking crying." Mingyu says and Seokmin laughs. "I know you've wanted a polaroid camera for so long but you could've easily bought one." Seungcheol says and Soekmin signs. "They made a promise. Mingyu isn't allowed to buy one because eMinghao has to be the one to buy it for him.” Seokmin says in his tired voice and Seungcheol sighs. "And they both told me I'm the overly dramatic one." Soekmin says and Mingyu can't even be bothered to frown bec sitting on top of the camera is a polaroid turned upside down with the written message at the back making Mingyu smile. 

**_Sorry it took me a while but a promise is a promise._ **

Mingyu turns the photo over and it's a photo of Minghao smiling up at him angled over his head. Mingyu sighs and leans back. "I'm gonna kill him." Mingyu says and Soekmin pushes his phone against Mingyu's face. "I'm gonna kill you." Mingyu says to the phone. "You promised me one thing along with the camera." Mingyu says and then he smiles and pulls everything out. Seokmin ends the video and tells Mingyu he sent it to Minghao already and Mignyu reads the instructions as good as he could before trying his best to put the film in properly. He told Seokmin and Seungcheol he's taking their photo and Seungcheol just sits on the love seat opposite him with Soekmin sitting on the arm rest, leaning against Seungcheol, and they both smile as Mingyu takes their photo. Mingyu waits for the photo to come out and he smiles as both of his friends look at him, smiling. "You're so gonna use up all these films in a week." Seungcheol says and Mingyu laughs. "Oh! You can bring this to Jeju!" Seokmin says and Mingyu's mood almost immediately plummets to the ground. "Right. Don't bring up work. Or Jeju. Focusing on happy things. Like pizza." Seokmin says and he gets up and heads towards the kitchen. Seungcheol smiles at Mingyu with that obviously concerned look on his face and Mignyu smiles. "I'm fine." Mingyu says and Seungcheol smiles too. Mingyu tries to shove everything back in the box but leaves out the camera and one pack of film when he hears his phone notify him of a message. Mingyu pulls it out of his sweatpants and stops breathing. 

**_X.Minghao_ **

_ I did promise one more thing along with the camera _

_ And I'll make sure to give it to you in person _

Mingyu stares at Minghao's message and tries to tell himself to breathe.

**_X.Minghao_ **

_ I'll see you soon, Gyu.  _

  
  



	4. PROJECT DEFINITION PHASE

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Project Definition Phase involves the definition of the requirements of the project by the Owner. The Architect in turn informs the Owner of the technical requirements of the project and the concomitant professional fees.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the response i have gotten from this fic has been so so great and I hope NO ONE HATES ME AFTER THIS UPDATE LMAO <3

Mingyu hates planes. 

Wait, no. He detest them. Loathes them. If his anger for such an invention could be turned into a real thing his hate for planes could rival the tallest structure in the world. Honestly? Fuck Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. His hate for planes could make Burj Khalifaa look like a fucking one storey bungalow. 

"It's not that bad." Chan says from besides him and Seungyeon on his other side laughs. "I think it's kind of refreshing to see Mingyu look this small." Seungyeon says and Mingyu huffs. "I mean, I doubt people would willing let passengers on if there's a chance planes could crash." Chan adds and Seungcheol, Choi Fucking Seungcheol, turns back from his seat in front of Mingyu, and smiles. "Actually, I dated this aeronautical engineering student back when i was a freshman and he said that based on the laws of physics, airplanes shouldn't be able to fly. But they do." Seungcheol says and Mingyu groans. "So I'm right. We're in a metal fucking box and we're about to fly over the fucking ocean." Mingyu asks and Seungcheol smiles wider and nods. "Technically speaking." Seungcheol adds and Chan swats his head down with a rolled up magazine while Mingyu feels his stomach churn for the third time in the last five minutes. "Everyone shut the fuck up or someone will die in this fucking plane." Chan says and Mingyu stares at this new stern look he hasn't seen on his face yet and it kind of grounds him enough to laugh. "Now I see why you guys chose him to be second in command." Mingyu says and Seungyeon laughs. "I'm on your side here, hyung!" Chan swats his arm this time and all of them laughed. 

The dreadful hour and ten minutes of a flight from Seoul to Jeju was a hurdle Mingyu never even thought of. It hasn't even crossed his mind when he had hope of managing the construction of the commercial strip and it certainly didn't cross his mind when he saw he-who-shall-not-be-named again. With an engagement ring on his finger. Mingyu almost asks architect Jeon to take him off the project or to just act as a consultant architect staying in the office while the team goes to visit the actual site but he's want for his boss' approval was proven to be bigger than his fear of imminent death. 

Death by metal tube _crashing on the fucking sea._

"Look, why don't you, uh... I don't know. Think about something else. Uh, you were telling me about this camera of yours, right?" Chan asks and Mingyu nods. The said camera is sitting snug on it's newly bought leather bag, also encased in a crystal, shockproof case to Mingyu proof it, and it's currently sitting on his stomach as he sinks lower in his seat. "It's a polaroid camera. Uhm, a Polaroid Snap. It's like those old polaroid cameras but more digital? It has a memory card slot and you can like, choose which photos to print and how many times to print it. It's really cool. I've taken like, almost two dozen photos in the week that I've gotten it and i'm hoping i can get some good ones when we're in Jeju." Mingyu says and Chan nods. "Architect Jeon rented a place for us three, you know. Instead of hotel rooms, we're going to be in an actual house in Jeju. I think it'll help us make some adjustments if we need to." Chan says and Mingyu smiles. "I don't think there'd be any difference. I mean, the most we'll need to think about are materials and you two have to start looking for places for interiors as well." Mingyu says and Chan smiles. "That's his job." Chan points at Seungyeon and Seungyeon gives the both of them a blank look. "I know a guy. He used to live in Seoul but moved to Jeju to like, surf. Or start a restaurant that serves food from around the world. I don't know, really." Seungyeon says and he laughs. "But i'm sure he can help us get around the place. i've looked up a lot of spots too." Seungyeon adds and Chan snaps his fingers. "Oh, and apparently we'll have a consultant architect with us, too. For local connections and all." Chan says and Mingyu sighs. "That's good. I mean, They didn't give us an actual timeframe and all so if we can finish any revisions this week, have all the documents signed by next week, and then start the actual construction before two weeks end, that'd be great." Mingyu says and Seungyeon sighs. "We're working on working days, right? Not calendar days?" Seungyeon asks and Mingyu sighs. "The faster we finished, the faster we can go home." Mingyu says and Seungyeon smiles. "It almost sounds like you're excited for your next airplane ride." Seungyeon says and Mingyu groans. "If I can survive this then I'm treating everyone to lunch." Mingyu says and Chan sighs. "You act like every plane ride has a high risk or not landing safely. It's a clear day, hyung." Chan argues and Seungyeon hums. "Well, not High risks, but every trip does have even just the slightest risk." Seungyeon argues and Chan glares at him. "I just don't wanna die before I get my midlife crisis." Mignyu sighs and Chan does as well. "You guys better not fucking clap when the plane lands or I'm asking to be put on the engineering team." Chan says and Mingyu and Seungyeon laugh. 

  
  


Mingyu knows how long an hour goes. It's less than what a good movie could have and an optimal length for one episode of a great show. But good God does an hour last so fucking long on the fucking sky. 

Seungyeon slept the moment they stabilized on air and Chan had to quite literally pry Mingyu's hand off of him to take his seat belt off. Mingyu feels like he's in a constant falling motion, making his stomach turn upside down, and making Chan panic with a barf bag every five minutes. Seungcheol eventually gave in, making Mingyu come up to his seat while Seungcheol sat on the window seat. Apparently both of the seats on either sides of Seungcheol were free for some reason and Mingyu sighs as Seungcheol gives him something to take to calm his nerves and Seungcheol stares as Mignyu swallows it down. "What?" "That was candy, Mingyu." Seungcheol says and the two of them share a laugh. Seungcheol distracted Mingyu by giving him a literal pack of origami paper. Mingyu stares at him and then at the paper in his hands and then back to Seungcheol. "What? You can't possibly tell me you thought i didn't have anything for you, did you?" Seungcheol said and Mingu smiles and opens up the pack and easily folds a heart for Seungcheol. Mingyu then goes through the stack in less than fifteen minutes, folding easy ones to get him started and then going into more intricate ones as he goes on. But after a painfully detailed  _ stegosaurus _ , Mingyu grabs all of his new creations and puts them back in the pack and slips them in his bag. Seungcheol then distracts him with videos and questions for the rest of the flight, asking him if he's okay with all the Jihoon thing and Mignyu just groans. He can only handle one life threatening problem at a time. Mingyu then insisted on staying on his place when they were asked to buckle their seatbelts and Seungcheol only complained once about crushing his hand when they made their descent. The two of them talked more as they waited for their luggage. Seungcheol telling him to plan their days off together so they can hang out and at least call Seokmin on sunday mornings to keep traditions and Mingyu smiles and nods, agreeing immediately because what the fuck else is he gonna do here? The two of them shared a hug and a pat at the back when they were in the lobby of the airport, saying a soft goodbye and seeing you soon, before parting ways. Seungheol's team took a separate van towards where they'll be staying while Mingyu followed Chan and Seungyeon out of the airport and let them lead the way towards their ride. 

And fuck did he not expect this right after a fucking flight. 

"Oh! Mister Jeon! You didn't have to come get us yourself!" Chan exclaims, bowing to the man and smiling as Wonwoo, who looks the most casual Mingyu has seen him yet in just a sweater and jogging pants, greets the three of them with a huge smile. "Please. It's nothing. Come on. The car's this way." Wonwoo says and Mingyu conjures up the best smile he can right then as Wonwoo's eyes finally flicker to him. Wonwoo's perfect smile just stays on him for a few more seconds before he walks on. Mingyu's pretty sure you can't just park in the drop off zone of an airport so he steals himself for the lengthy walk but Wonwoo walks up to one of the black minivan waiting up front and he opens the door to the driver's seat and out come's Jihoon in a black and gray track suit with a white shirt under his jacket. A not so surprisingly similar get up from his soon to be perfect fucking husband. 

Mingyu's allowed to be bitchy. It's just in his head and he's just been through a fucking plane ride. 

Chan and Seungyeon greet him too and Mingyu follows along as Jihoon smiles at them. He greets the other two and tells them to put their luggage at the back but he stops when he looks at Mingyu. "You look a bit pale. Are you still a bit freaked out over planes?" Jihoon asks and Mingyu lets out a deep breath and smiles weakly. "Yeah. I'm just glad it wasn't out of the country or I'd be coming out of this airport in an ambulance." Mingyu says, swallowing his frustration down with the bile that's been clogging his throat since their plane landed and he follows Chan and helps him put his bag on the back of the van. Turns out angry and impulsive Mingyu was just a one time thing. Which is too bad. Mingyu kind of liked seeing Jihoon speechless back then. 

Mingyu uses his "I am terribly afraid of aircrafts" card the entire time they were on the way to their temporary home and he smiles and silently thanks Chan as he and Seungyeon carry the conversation with the couple as Wonwoo drives. Mingyu does take out his camera though. He leans closer to Chan in the middle of their seat, and takes a photo of the space in between the driver's seat and passenger seat. The light filtering through the front didn't let his camera adjust to the light so when Mingyu printed it out he let out a soft chuckle and showed Chan the somewhat oversaturated and contrasted photo. Mingyu puts his camera back and leans back on his seat with his eyes closed to at least get him a bit of rest to survive his first day here. 

**_Polaroid 21: proof that i made that plane my lil bitch_ **

Wonwoo drives by some restaurant and Jihoon gets out of the car only to come back with the smell of savory charred heaven filling the van. "Hold on. I think you guys need some fresh air after that flight." Wonwoo says and he turns off the A.C. and opens the windows. Seungyeon sticks out his head, sitting alone in the middle seat of the van, and Chan smiles as the window next to Mingyu opens up and the light kind of wakes Mingyu up some more. "This okay?" Wonwoo asks, looking back particularly at Mingyu, and Mingyu smiles. "The sea breeze does wonders around here." Wonwoo says and Mingyu looks out and takes his second snap of his trip. 

**_Polaroid 22: vitamin sea <3_ **

Mingyu does end up feeling a lot better with the breeze hitting his face and he smiles as he leans against the window and closes his eyes. Wonwoo tells them his formal introduction to Chan and Seungyeon and Mingyu cuts him off in the middle of his little speech. “He's being too modest. I looked you up, mister Jeon. It turns out being critically acclaimed runs in your family." Mingyu adds, hoping this breaks whatever's left of that ice between them that wasn't even cracked when they first met but has gradually gotten thinner and thinner the more they met. Mingyu realized how childish he was, being mad at Wonwoo for nothing more than just being his perfect self. And Mingyu has long since agreed with himself that he's not going to make things hard on Wonwoo all because Wonwoo got the life Mingyu thought he deserved. "Mingyu, kindly go back to having a headache." Wonwoo adds and Mingyu gasps. Chan and Seungyeon laughed as Wonwoo closed the window next to Mingyu and Mingyu laughed as he left barely an inch of it open. Jihoon then introduces himself to Chan and Seungyeon too, even adding how he knew Mingyu, and Chan gladly played his part in being everyone's favorite and told him he's excited to be working with Jihoon. Jihoon thanks him and Wonwoo tells them they can continue their conversation inside while they have their lunch and then he parks and turns off the engine. 

When they told him they'll be staying at a house, Mingyu imagined a B&B type of house. Or maybe a house they rent for the month. Not this. 

**_Polaroid 23: the Jeon Mansion_ **

"It's our vacation house and my father said you're free to use it while working here. Less expenses and all since he is technically the one paying." Wonwoo says and Mingyu sighs. "What about you guys?" Mingyu asks and Wonwoo smiles. "It's sort of a complex." Wonwoo says and Jihoon grabs his hand and tugs him back. "A compound. The main house only has two other bedrooms aside from the master's bedroom so you guys can stay in the other house at the back." Jihoon explains and Seungyeon sighs. "God, I wanna be this rich." He says and Chan laughs as he drags him to the back of the car to get their bags.

Wonwoo leads them through the main house, basically just a gorgeous two storey house with high ceilings in the living room and an open feel to it with all the white and the windows and Mingyu loves how he feels the outside breeze even when they're walking through the kitchen. Wonwoo then walks through the sliding door next to the kitchen and Mingyu stares at the pool and stops in his steps as tries to see how deep it is. "It's eight feet deep." Jihoon says behind him and Mingyu smiles awkwardly. "You guys are free to use the pool, you know. On your days off, at least." Wonwoo says and Chan laughs. "Mingyu hyung loves swimming so I hope you won't regret that." Chan says and Seungyeon laughs. Across the pool is the other house. Like an actual whole other house. It's more of a boarding house in terms of it's plan because it has a huge spacious living area in the middle, an open, high ceilinged kitchen with a huge slanted glass above it, and Mingyu smiles as he realizes it. "This is where you stayed, huh?" Mingyu asks and Wonwoo turns to him and sees where he's staring. "Oh, yeah." Wonwoo says and he rubs the back of his neck as he smiles. "Kind of why we wanted to settle down here. I had a lot of great memories here and I liked to think of this as my second home after ." Wonwoo says and Mingyu smiles. "There's four bedrooms here, two upstairs and two here." Wonwoo points at the two rooms on either side of them. "But that one has it's own bathroom." Wonwoo points at the one on their right and then smiles. "There are two more bathrooms, one down here and one upstairs, so you guys don't need to worry about sharing." Wonwoo says and Chan raises his hand. "I vote Mingyu hyung gets that room." Chan points at the one with it's own bathroom and Mingyu blinks. "Seconded. I'm gonna take a room upstairs and the bathroom there as well." Seungyeon says and Chan nods. "Done." Chan said and Mingyu raises his own hand now. "Uhm. What's that supposed to mean?" Mingyu asks and Chan smiles. "Sorry hyung. But you're, you know... Kind of messy." Chan says and he smiles sweetly at him. "We all found out about that when we went to Singapore. His shampoo was on the floor." Seungyeon says, staring at Mingyu like he's weird but he wasn't. "I kept dropping it whenever I put it on the shelf thingy so I left it on the floor! It's not that weird!" Mingyu says and Wonwoo laughs out loud. "Okay, enough of that for now. Why don't you guys leave your things here and maybe freshen up if you want while we prepare our lunch. Meet us in the other house in a bit, okay?" Wonwoo says and he smiles and walks up to Jihoon by the front door and grabs his hand as they walk out of the house. "Dude." Seungyeon says. "We're in architect Jeon's vacation house." he says and Chan rolls his eyes. "I'm gonna take a quick shower." Chan says and he heads for his room and Seungyeon carries his bag upstairs, cackling for no reason at all, so Mingyu heads into his own room and flops face first on the bed. Mingyu turns, lies on his back on the bed, and cranes his neck to look around the room. There's a fairly good size of a table across the bed, pressed up against the wall, and a built in closet next to it. The bathroom door is on the other side of the table, and Mingyu thinks it's not that bad of a working space.The realization that he's staying with Wonwoo and Jihoon throughout all of this hits him hard when he opens his window, stares at the pool right in front of it, and then hears Jihoon's loud laugh from the other house. He's screaming at Wonwoo to stop, laughing so loud and so whole that Mingyu can't help but smile. 

Yeah. Mingyu's thoroughly fucked. 

After their oh so lovely lunch of grilled seafood and the revelation that Wonwoo doesn't eat seafood while he eats grilled chicken, they all rested up right there in the dining room. They talk for a while, Mingyu asking Wonwoo about this one book of his that really caught Mingyu's attention when he looked him up, and that's where the table was split in two conversations. Chan and Seungyeon, obviously out for some more dirt about Mingyu and Jihoon's past, bombards Jihoon with endless questions about his previous projects and all that, while Wonwoo goes on a complete journey about his book. And it's another different side of him that had Mingyu leaning back at first but eventually had him leaning forward gradually as they talked. One of Wonwoo's works was categorized as a fable and seeing it along with all the young adult fiction and general fiction really makes one think. So Mingyu asks Wonwoo about it and Wonwoo holds up a finger over Mingyu's face, runs upstairs towards their bedroom, apparently, because when he got back he's holding the book Mingyu was talking about. 

It was a story from the point of view of a bird. Mingyu doesn't remember what type of bird Wonwoo said but he listens on as he tells Mingyu the plot of it all. It was about a bird who's only friend was a statue. A statue of a man looking out to sea, waiting for someone. Wonwoo explains that since it's the bird's point of view, the story progressed very weirdly. Because the bird makes the narrative on his own, makes up a dialogue for the statue, comes up with a back story and everything, ANd he feels that connection because he believes the statue is staying there to meet him everyday. Wonwoo won't say more after that, telling Mingyu to read the book himself, and Mingyu laughs it off. But then Wonwoo hands him the book over the table with a smile. "I don't think you're much of a reader given how much of the napkins I've set out turned into bunnies and turtles, but here." Wonwoo says and Mingyu takes it with a smile. "It's not the best of my works, as critics would say, but it's definitely the one i've invested too much of myself in." Wonwoo says and Mingyu flips through the pages and smiles at the tiny scribbles around some of the pages.

Wonwoo then tells them their work for today is basically just visiting the site and then the real work starts on Monday. Since they did fly out here on a friday, Mingyu knew it's the optimal time to go on as much sightseeing and to make this feel as much of a vacation in those two days before their actual work begins. So Wonwoo insisted that they go prepare while they clean up and they can drive to the lot afterwards but Chan and Seungyeon were already on their feet, helping gather the mess on the table to make cleaning up a lot faster. After that they all went on their separate ways to their own rooms and Mingyu leaves Wonwoo's book on the desk and changes into more comfortable shoes and pants but leaves his black sweater on. He grabs one of his smaller bags and shoves his wallet, phone, and two of his cameras inside. 

**_Polaroid24: home for now_ **

Mingyu made sure to capture as much of the room as he can and he smiles as the sky outside dims enough for the pool to be seen outside the window. He then waits for Chan and Seungyeon on the couch and eventually just heads out and goes to the main house. He finds Wonwoo sitting on the counter by the kitchen and Mingyu smiles when he looks up from his phone to smile at Mingyu. "Hey, uhm. I was wondering if you know where we can rent a car?" Mingyu asks and Wonwoo nods. "Yeah. There's one by the airport. I can help you out later after we go to the lot of the house, yeah?" Wonwoo pushes up his glasses on his nose and Mignyu nods, smiling. He thanked Wonwoo and then took a good look around the house as well. "You know, I can see why you have a thing about windows." Mingyu says and Wonwoo smiles. "I like how open it feels. It makes the house feel less of a building and more of an actual home." Wonwoo says and Mingyu turns to frown at that. "A building  _ is _ a home. That's why we're here, you know?" Mingyu says and Wonwoo laughed. "Okay, uhm. I mean, yeah. Technically speaking. But, when I meant home I meant, the feeling of it. You work on residential buildings a lot, right?" Wonwoo asks and Mingyu nods. "Right. So let me ask you this. Why do you need to plan every house differently if you're just making a building?" Wonwoo asks and Mingyu stares. "Home is a feeling of comfort. That place where the hollow part of you when your vulnerable acts like a specifically shaped groove in your body so you fit right in. I mean, yeah, you can buy already built houses and make a home in it too, right? So why do architect keep making new and different designs every client?" Wonwoo asks and Mingyu smiles and sighs. "To make the building we're making the closest we can get it to being your home. Okay. I get it." Mingyu says and Wonwoo beams. "Exactly. And for me, it's openness. I like it better than those concrete boxes that are built to keep the heat in or  _ whatever _ ." Wonwoo says and Mingyu laughs. "Well, I'm glad you think my version of your home is good enough for the two of you." Mingyu says and Wonwoo nods. "You're really cool, Mingyu. I'm glad my dad didn't insist in making an old smartass design our home." Wonwoo says and Mingyu laughed. "You know that aside from me, your father's the one specializing in residential buildings, right?" Mingyu asks and Wonwoo smiles. "I know." Wonwoo says and it took Mingyu a few seconds to understand what Wonwoo meant. Mingyu was laughing as Chan and Seungyeon came in through the side of the house and the two of them told Wonwoo they're ready. Wonwoo then calls out to Jihoon by jumping off the counter and yelling his name and Jihoon comes down the stairs with a jacket in his hand. They all got out of the house and into the minivan and Mingyu mutters how nice it must be to be rich when Wonwoo used a remote to open the gate behind them. 

Mingyu has been to a lot of beautiful places. He's seen gorgeous sunsets and even brighter colors when dawn breaks. He's seen the sea in a lot of places before and all of them are nothing if not beautiful. 

But this is just beyond that. 

The lot had an amazing sea side view and it's beyond what Mingyu could have imagined based on their lot. He was happy to see that the lot is relatively flat and the documents regarding the soil was already studied and cleared for before they even came here but Mingyu just cannot, for the life of him, get over the fucking view. His other camera, a digital camera that he swears could pass for a DSLR camera, has been in his hand since they got out of the van and he thinks he has about two gigabytes worth of photos of the scene. 

"I know. I had the same face back when Wonwoo first brought me here." Jihoon says next to him and Mingyu can't help but smile at him. "Just thinking about having this as the first thing i can see as i look out my window is beyond me." Mingyu says and he looks back at Chan and Seungyeon talking to Wonwoo by the car. "You guys are pretty far from the edge but the road from the main road to your house would be a lot." Mignyu says and Jihoon nods. "I got that covered. You're in charge of the actual house." Jihoon says and Mingyu nods. He takes out his camera, his polaroid one, and lets it adjust to the light of the sunset before taking a photo. 

**_Polaroid25:_ **

Then he turns to Jihoon and takes a deep breath. "Let me do it over."

Jihoon's surprised "What?!" was enough to get the other three's attention and by the time Mingyu stops laughing, they're crowding against them. "I want to do this place justice hyung. If you don't like what we can come up with in a week then we can push through the original plan." Mingyu says. "Plans." Chan corrects him and Mingyu turns to stare at him. "What?" "There were two submitted plans. It was on the schematics that you gave me." Chan says and Mingyu panics. "What?" Mingyu asks once again and now Mingyu panics. "Oh that. Right. Uh. That was more like an alternative plan. For like, different requirements." Mingyu says and Chan picks up on it immediately. " _ Yeah _ . The second one has a backyard. And more rooms." Mingyu adds and Chan's eyes widened. "Oh? I thought that was the main one? We liked that one." Wonwoo says and Mingyu laughs awkwardly. Fuck.  _ Fuck fuck fuck _ . "Uhm. Right. Uh. But like what i said to Jihoon earlier. I was wondering if you would be okay with me trying a new plan. I want to give this place justice and i kind of have a different approach now that i've seen the location." Mingyu says, avoiding Jihoon's eyes, and smiling at the other three. Wonwoo nods, gives a soft okay before smiling, while Chan and Seungyeon look at him weirdly. 

On their way back to their house, Mingyu fills Chan in on which plan was which and Chan apologizes because he thought the other one was so much more detailed and finished that he assumed it was the first one. Mingyu just lets it go, tells him it's no big deal, and then promises not to work them down too much in the coming week. Wonwoo asks everyone to get off when they were in front of the house with the exemption of Mingyu. Mingyu tenses, thinking he's about to... well, he doesn't really know but it's not such a nice feeling to be called out. But then he's reminded that he's going to rent a car and Mingyu smiles nervously as he goes out to move to the passenger seat. "Why don't you guys just take the bus so you two won't have to drive separately on the way back?" Jihoon adds and Wonwoo thought it was a great idea too. So Mingyu gets out and waits for Wonwoo to park the car before the two of them set out on an adventure alone and the other three are tasked to get dinner. 

The bus ride was fine and not at all that awkward. Mingyu is awkward by nature but it wasn't as bad as he thought it would be. He's accepted the fact that Jihoon makes him more nervous than Wonwoo ever could and on the way there, Wonwoo even pointed out places to eat out or even places to check out if he wants to check the city out. The registration wasn't that much of a hassle as well and Mingyu wrote up a month on the contract even if he initially wanted to be gone as soon as he could but he figured it's easier than having to extend it when things go south. So Wonwoo lets him drive on their way back, telling him where to go and which turns to take, and not even an hour after they left, they're back and parking Mingyu's car next to Wonwoo's minivan. 

  
  


Dinner was still a bit awkward. Mingyu can't blame anyone for it, really. They are still their clients and this kind of setting isn't something that usually happens. They just usually meet clients when they're coming over for a meeting or when they're visiting the site. But this? Practically living together? Mingyu's just glad he's not the only one thinking it's awkward. Wonwoo was a huge help in breaking the tension, though. He sets up his wireless speaker and Mingyu watches as Chan tries to hold himself off from asking if he really does like this music or not. It's pretty entertaining seeing Chan go on and on about a specific artist and Mignyu was kind of waiting for him to get up and dance at some point. But their dinner ended without the dance number but Wonwoo did offer them beer. Mingyu figures he can have a few bottles and wake up fine to drive. So they move to the living room and Mingyu laughs along to their stories as the night goes on. Wonwoo asks them more about why they decided on architecture and Chan and Seungyeon asking their fair share of questions about their family. About their relationship. 

"I met Jihoon when he was fresh out of college and I didn't know where I had to go. I mean, starting is always the hardest step and all that but after a couple of years after graduating i still had nothing." Wonwoo says and Wonwoo takes Jihoon's hand. "And then I met him." Wonwoo says and they all coo at the sentiment. "Granted he did tell me off when I approached him and I had to like, approach him at least three more times before he didn't scowl at me anymore, but it was worth it. He's worth it." Wonwoo says and Jihoon turns to look at him from where they're seated and Wonwoo kisses the back of his hand, making Jihoon smile. "I was working on something in the coffee shop back then. You were annoying me so i figured it'd be better if i let you down sooner than later." Jihoon says and Wonwoo smiles. "But you softened up soon enough." Wonwoo says and Jihoon rolls his eyes. Mingyu watches, holds his gaze the same way he'd hold still as someone cleans his wound with alcohol. It hurts like a bitch but it's better if it's a pain you're used to. 

So he’s going to get himself used to it. 

Mingyu finds himself sitting on his bed at midnight, Seungcheol and Seokmin are on two different windows on his phone which is a first, and he sits on the bed and leans on the wall right next to the window.  _ "I don't know if you two know, but this is the first we've ever been separated. Since college."  _ Seokmin says and Mingyu smiles. "It's not that weird." Mingyu says and Seungcheol laughs. _ "It's weird that we haven't gotten tired of each other yet."  _ Seungcheol adds and Seokmin sighs. _ "Well, as long as you two aren't being idiots over there then I'm fine."  _ Seokmin says and Mingyu smiles.  _ "And Gyu?"  _ "Yeah?"  _ "Are you sure about this? I know you don't want to talk about it but you're basically designing Jihoon's future."  _ Seokmin asks and Mingyu smiles at them. "I am. I really do believe that I am. Think of it as exposure therapy and closure at the same time.” Mingyu says and he sighs. “I mean, yeah, I loved him. But now I'm more annoyed that he's back in my life than anything, really. But he was an important person in my life, once upon a time, so I don't think it's that difficult to be civil with them." Mingyu says and Seungcheol laughs. _ "Chan told me you asked him to put you in your luggage and send you back home."  _ Seungcheol says and Mingyu sighs. "That was when I saw mister perfect soon to be husband smiling at us when he welcomed us. I had just been through an airplane ride, hyung. I deserved to be dramatic." Mingyu argues and they all laughed. _ "As long as you're sure. You're honest, Mingyu. Too honest, most of the time. And you've never been one to be silent when you're hurting. But since Jihoon came back you haven't dealt with it head on, you know?" _ Seokmin says and Mingyu smiles weakly. Mingyu knew Seokmin would know easily how he operates. How he functions on the daily. "Truth is, I didn't like dealing with him. This whole thing made me want to cry at least twice a day. But seeing him here... Seeing him with Wonwoo. Seeing them here. I don't know... Maybe it was the feeling of 'why him and not me' that was making me bitter or something. i don't know. But now I know that they're a lovely couple. They really compliment each other and all I've ever wanted for Jihoon was for him to be happy so I'm at least glad I can see that now." Mingyu says and he finds himself looking at the moonlight dancing on the pool's surface. He turns to the phone and sees Seokmin covering his face. 

"Fuck. Uh... Look I was just-"  _ "No. It's fine. If you can't hate Jihoon then I'll hate him for you."  _ Seokmin says and Seungcheol laughs softly. _ "I don't know what happened. What was going on with his life and all. But what he did was just cruel. The least he could've told you was you two have broken up. Not just dissapearign one day and never fucking contacting you until he's fucking engaged." _ Seokmin says and Mingyu smiles. "Honestly? I'm over it. I am what I am today because of all that drama."  _ "You mean you have commitment issues because your first love was a selfish asshole."  _ Soekmin says and Mingyu laughs. "I'm kind of touched how mad you are. Given that you never get mad. But trust me. I am over it. So no more talk about if Mingyu is okay. Mingyu _ is _ okay. And he's kicking ass and he is in Jeju enjoying life." Mingyu says and Seokmin audibly sighs.  _ "That actually sounded genuine, Mingyu."  _ Seungcheol says with a smile and Mingyu scoffs. "Fuck off. Now I'm going to sleep now and wake up early tomorrow to pick your ass up and then we're gonna go sightsee with Seungyeon and Chan and Seungyeon's friend who's a local here." Mingyu says and he smiles. "Good night. I'm gonna leave you two to be all mushy about being an ocean apart or whatever." Mingyu says and he grins at their scowls before making a peace sign and then leaving their call. 

Mingyu sets his alarm for six in the morning to get in as much workout as he can in an hour and then he's going to ask Wonwoo if he can make breakfast for everyone. He leaves his phone charging on the desk and he smiles at the polaroids scattered on the table. He picks up the last one, the beautiful ocean view and the sunset coloring the sky a huge gradient of purples and pinks to an astounding orange. Then he noticed a hand on the edge of the photo, a hand he knew could belong to no one else but him. It was pointing out at sea, or pointing out into the sunset. Mingyu smiles at the image and flips it over. 

**_Polaroid 25; To whatever kind of future._ **

Mingyu sleeps with the window closed but the curtains open. He stares up at the ceiling and he finds that sleep comes to him a lot easier than he thought it would. 

  
  


Mingyu sips at his mango slushie, staring at his friends scattered around the beach side resto-bar... club... place. Mingyu has no idea how to properly identify this place but is one hell of a place. 

The morning started out a lot more, uh, peaceful than Mingyu had hoped for. His plan to work out worked out well. He had pulled out his yoga mat from his luggage, smiling at the mental image of Seokmin looking at him with a scowl as he packs his things, specifically at this, and him telling Mingyu that it's not worth leaving a spare towel out. And Mingyu sure proved him wrong. He laid the mat out in the huge tiled space in between both of the houses and working out next to a pool really makes Mingyu want to try it out. But after more or less an hour of his usual home workout, Wonwoo comes in through the gate in just a sleeveless shirt, shorts, and what looks like compression pants. Mingyu's not sure because he didn't want to look down more than once. Mingyu asked him if he could make breakfast and Wonwoo offered to help him out. So the two of them tag teamed a very wide selection of breakfast dishes. From toasts to fried rice, Mingyu tried not to let it get to his head when Wonwoo watches in amazement as Mingyu makes pancakes from scratch. Jihoon eventually comes down and he stops right by the kitchen to stare at the two of them. Wonwoo laughs at Jihoon's dumbstruck face but Mingyu can imagine why this would make him freak out even just a little. "Mingyu told me that juiced fruits are just as healthy as powdered fruit juices." Wonwoo says, setting Jihoon's plate at the end of the table and pushing the fried rice and stir fried vegetables close to him. Mingyu flips the last pancake and stacks them up on the plate just as Chan and Seungyeon walk out of the other house and into the dining room. 

Wonwoo tells them of a few places they could check out and Mingyu notes them all on his phone. Mingyu tried to help with the clean up but Chan and Seungyeon told him to get ready and take a shower since he still hasn't taken one, and Mingyu eventually gives up when Jihoon forces Wonwoo up the stairs as well. Mingyu changed into sneakers, shorts, and a light button up shirt. He grabs for his bag with all of the things he could need for the day, and double checks his cameras and his sunglasses. Wonwoo gave him a remote of his own for the gate and Mingyu lets Chan do the honors as Seungyeon calls his friend to tell him when they can meet up. Mingyu then asks Chan to call Seungcheol as they drive on and Seungcheol screams at Mingyu to tell him to hurry up. When they drop by the hotel the others are staying at, Mingyu caught a glimpse of a very particular annoyance he can't seem to avoid no matter where he goes. So instead of hiding and letting Seungcheol see them, Mingyu hits his horn three times and then gets out of the car to smile at Seungcheol and a very annoyed looking Jia. Mingyu waves as obnoxiously as he could and Seungcheol says something to her and avoids her as he runs towards the car. Seungcheol says a silent thanks to Mingyu as he runs to the car and Mingyu beams at Jia as she walks up to the other side of the car. "Shouldn't you be planning your little house by now? I didn't think you knew anything about weekends seeing how much you work." Jia says, wearing a smile that's a lot more fake than her Gucci hand bag, and Mingyu takes off his sunglasses to look her up and down before putting them back on. "And I didn't think I'd get to see you in anything but pant suits and heels." Mingyu says and he smiles. "Love the sneakers, by the way." Mingyu says and Jia seems more shocked than anything. "I'll have Seungcheol back before midnight, don't worry. And at least try to have even just a little bit of fun today. Okay? Okay." Mingyu says and he says goodbye before getting in the car and driving away. The car was silent for a good minute and Seungyeon cleared his throat to tell him which way to go. "Okay, uhm. I have to ask. Were you hitting on her just now?" Chan asks and Mignyu laughs. "Everyone in this car knows how gay I am so no. I wasn't. I just think it's time to put out good energy to the world, you know? Kill them with kindness and all that." Mingyu says and Suengcheol hums. "Well it worked. I don't think Jia was breathing when we left." Seungcheol said and everyone laughed. 

But Mingyu was telling the truth. He figures their little office squabble always starts with Jia but Mingyu always did keep it up by answering back. Jia's smart and Mingyu's not an idiot. He knows Jia did so much more compared to him to get to the same place he did. And Mingyu respects her a lot for that. And Mingyu knows of a dozen meetings where he and Jia were actually on the same side. So maybe if he reached out first, they could actually be good friends. Or civil workmates in the least. 

Seungyeon eventually did point out where to park since they had to walk a bit to the place and Seungyeon told everyone wearing shoes to either take them off to wear sandals or to just go barefoot. Mingyu opts for his sandals because God knows he's prone to getting injured no matter what he does. They then follow Seungyeon down the street towards the beach and he makes a turn at a weird looking cottage-like restaurant. 

And then he hears screaming. 

"Oh my God! Dude!" Someone yells in english and Mingyu watches as he tackles Seungyeon to the literal ground. Seungyeon laughs it off and pulls the guy in a hug and Mingyu smiles. They both scramble to get up and Mingyu helps Seungyeon the same time Chan offer his hand out towards the other guy. Mingyu smiles, nudges Seungeyon at the scene, and they both watch as the guy stares at Chan. "I'm, uh... I'm Vernon." The guy says and Chan, indifferent to it all, just shakes his hand and smiles. "I'm Chan. I work with Seungyeon." Chan says and the guy just was not listening. Seungyeon scoffs, hits the guy at the back of his head, and Mingyu can't help but laugh. "This idiot is Vernon. He's cool most of the time but he stops using his brain in  _ certain _ circumstances." Seungyeon says and everyone goes around introducing themselves. "Well, I was honestly expecting more people but welcome to The Husk." He says and Mingyu smiles. 

And so here he is. Mango slushie in one hand, digital camera on the other, just completely in the moment. 

Seungcheol and Seungyeon are playing billiards on one end of the hall, already drinking beer even when they just finished their lunch and it's barely one in the afternoon. And Chan, well, Chan is on a bar stool, sitting sideways to face their lovely and lively host, Vernon. Vernon was wearing a black shirt and obnoxiously neon orange shorts that matches his flip flops and his sunglasses are still sitting low on top of Chan's nose as he grins at him. Mingyu's glad Chan eventually understood that Vernon was hitting on him and Mingyu tried not to laugh when Chan turned away, hiding his flushed face. 

**_Polaroid 26: cheers to new beginnings_ **

He smiles at the printed photo of Vernon and Chan drinking, the view of the sea as their background as they stare at each other with their drinks held up in a toast. Mingyu prints another copy of the photo and leaves it in his shirt's pocket. He takes photos of Seungcheol and Seungyeon laughing as they play poorly and he leaves Chan and Vernon alone and decides not to take more photos of what looks like a totally private moment. Mingyu knew Seungcheol and Seungyeon called in more people to come by but he didn't think the rest of their whole team would actually come. "I knew the happy social Mingyu was a front." Jia says, sliding up to the seat next to Mingyu and Mingyu rolls his eyes and takes a deep breath. "The fact that I'm here enjoying my drink is a step towards the right direction." Mingyu says and Jia laughs. "Your non-alcoholic drink, you mean?" "I'm driving." Mingyu insists but he knows Chan can drive. In fact, Chan would love to drive since he never really was a fan of drinking with the sun up, anyways. "Is there any particular reason why you always put in so much effort to single me out? I mean, there has to be a reason." Mingyu says and Jia laughed. "Is this going to be the time we finally get to know each other? Also, the fact that you  _ still  _ don't know just enforces it, you know?" Jia says and Mingyu groans. "So I did  _ do  _ something?" Mingyu asks and Jia smiles. "It's more like you _ didn't do _ something." Jia says and Mingyu sighs. "It can't be that bad." "Mingyu, we were in the same class for five years." Jia says and Mingyu turns to stare at her and then laughs. "Right." Mingyu says and then he turns to look at Jia and she just sips her drink. "First year, you let your hair grow out. Third year you cut it and then just came to class with bleached hair. And after that you seem to like, let it grow out as well until you cut it for our thesis presentation." Jia says and Mingyu stares. "You still don't believe me? I'm sure Jihoon would recognize me." Jia says and Mingyu's heart stops for a second.

Fuck.

"No way." Mingyu says and Jia laughs. "You're a lot more approachable after college, that's for sure." Jia says and Mingyu slams his head on the table. "Oh my God. Why didn't you just tell me?" Mingyu asks and Jia just shrugs and takes a sip of her drink. "I kind of like antagonizing you." Jia says and Mingyu groans. "I'm glad Seungcheol didn't tell you, though." Because of course Seungcheol knew. That’s why they're close. Oh my God, That's why they're close! "So earlier-" "We were talking about you, yeah. And your sadistic act of designing the future home of your one true love and his husband." "Fiance." Mignyu corrects her and Jia just smiles. "Technicalities. They have two rings and sleep in one bed." Jia says and Mignyu frowns. "I mean, don't get me wrong, I knew you two did split up like, on our fourth year. Your emo look back then was very out of character. But wow. Actively looking for you to design his house?" "He didn't. Architect Jeon-" "Architect Jeon gave them a list and he picked you the minute he saw your profile. And since you do have a lot of good projects on your profile he might've just understood that as Jihoon choosing you for that." Jia says and Mingyu groans. "You're making me want to drink something less fruity and more alcoholic." Mingyu says and Jia pushes her beer bottle on the table in front of Mingyu. 

Mingyu sighs, calls out to Chan across the room, and throws him the keys to the car. Chan smiles, pockets the keys, and Mingyu downs the rest of Jia's beer and gets up to get more. 

For the rest of the afternoon, he and Jia talk more. Mingyu tells Jia that college wasn't such a fun place for him after, you know, that happened, so his brain kind of took it upon itself to block most of his memories from then. And Jia and her friends never really interacted much with Mingyu and his friends so Jia says he understood it just a little. "Still was kind of embarrassing that you didn't know me, though." Jia says and Mingyu apologizes again. Jia would insist on asking him about his work and all that and Mingyu would turn it around and ask her about her college life and all that to change to topic but Jia just shakes her head and smiles. So Mingyu gives in and tells her. 

"Well, we met in my first year, he's classmates with Seungcheol hyung and he was always there when I'm looking for him and he became friends with Seungcheol and then he was officially part of our little group. Then second year he asked me out which was groundbreaking for virgin Mingyu. And everything was cool. We were fine. We stayed up together and helped each other for our projects and plates. But then in our third year, he was already fifth year like Cheol hyung, he graduated and moved out of campus to look for, you know, work. And I was like, thinking of moving out of the campus dorms to maybe share a place with him you know? Just our place. And he said he did like the idea and we can start on my next semester. But the summer before our fourth year, Seungchoel decided to enlist then and we had, like, a huge party during our apprenticeship thing, Jihoon went off the grid. Completely ghosted me and everyone he knew in our uni. I couldn't contact him and neither could his friends, and he never talked about his parents so I don't- I didn't know how to reach him." Mingyu says. “Seokmin helped a lot but Seungcheol being gone that time really didn’t help. I mean, it’s not his fault and I never blamed him for anything but I really wished I had him then. When he visited he told me to just try my best to forget Jihoon and I just left it at that.” Jia watches him as he chugs as much beer as he can and he sighs after gulping it all down. "And now he just came back like nothing happened?" Jia asks and Mingyu smiles. "And the best part is his husband is fucking perfect." Mingyu says and Jia smiles. "I think you meant fiance." Jia mimics him and Mingyu groans. "Two rings, one bed, and all that." Mingyu says and Jia takes a deep breath. "And all that time you've never been with anybody?" Jia asks and Mingyu snorts. "I've been with plenty of _ anybody. _ The whole emo look back on our fourth year? Definitely helped in getting me plenty of guys. And a few girls." Mingyu says and Jia fake gags. "Wow. Okay. That was definitely gross but completely understandable. You were probably a romantic at heart and Jihoon leaving definitely broke you in a lot of ways." Jia says and Mingyu scoffs. "Did you get totally obsessed about something too? Like art or something like that?" Jia asks and Mingyu looks down on the folded penguin next to his bottle and looks up to see Jia looking down at it as well. Smiling. "You're adorable." Jia says and Mingyu scoffs. "And you just played along like it's fine? No beef whatsoever?" Jia asks and Mignyu thinks back on the first conversation he had with Wonwoo and he grimaces at the memory. "I definitely sensed some jealous vibe on Wonwoo when we first talked and I may have chose not to be the bigger man." Mingyu says and Jia laughed. "No way." "He told me i looked uncomfortable when i found out it was Jihoon and when i told him Jihoon just caught me off guard he told me there must've been a reason we never kept in touch. And I told him why don't you ask your Fiance about it since I don't even know why." Mingyu says and Jia looked like she was holding in her laughter as Mingyu drinks. "Definitely not a good first impression but after that he's pretty cool, really." Mingyu says and Jia nods. "Sure. Well, good luck to you, i guess. I think with what's going on with all that, your project is going to be pretty fucking hard." Jia says and Mingyu laughs. "Oh, definitely." "Hey, no hard feelings or anything, right?" Jia asks and Mingyu smiles. "You hoenstly could've jsut told me we were fuckign classmates instead of making my life hell, you know." "But where's the fun in that? Plus people did start respecting both of us since we started." Jia says and Mingyu sighs. He can't really argue with that. People have this weird mindset that only "successful" ones in their profession could possibly have a competitor. It's dumb, yeah. But it actually happens. 

By sunset, their little group had migrated towards the beach. Seungyeon keeps taking photos of Chan and Vernon walking a few meters ahead of them, bumping shoulders as they hold their sandals on either sides of them while they walk on the sand, and Seungcheol has his phone up with Seokmin on his screen smiling and waving at them. Mingyu takes a few more photos on his camera as they walk on and he stops when he turns to take a photo of Chan and Vernon only to see them looking back at them. Looking back at him, specifically. Mingyu offers a smile but they both turn away to walk on ahead before they could see and Mingyu ponders for a while what they could be talking about. Maybe he's not such a great team leader? Or does Chan not want to be here? Mingyu did just assume Chan would want to go and he didn't actually ask but- Oh shit. Maybe he did want to not go. 

_ "Yah! Kim Mingyu! I'm talking to you!" _ Seokmin yells at him and Mingyu flinches. Seungcheol held his phone up right next to Mingyu's ear and Mingyu swats his hand away as he puts Seungyeon in between them.  _ "I was asking you how you're doing, dumbass." _ Seokmin says and Mingyu scoffs. "I'm not talking to you." _ "What the fuck?"  _ "I'm not talking to Seungcheol so i'm not talking to you by default." Mingyu says and Seungcheol laughs.  _ "What did you do now?" _ Seokmin asks Seungcheol and Mingyu laughs. "This is fun." Seungyeon says as they watch Seokmin yell at Seungcheol while Seungcheol just lovingly smiles at Seokmin. "You should see them when they're together. It's sickening." Mingyu says and Seungyeon laughs. 

By nightfall, Vernon had dragged them along to a the front of The Husk again and asked everyone to wait by the beach as he fixes something. Mingyu drags Chan towards the edge of the beach and laughs as they all run around the damp sand, teasing each other as the tide chases them, and Mingyu catches a glimpse of Vernon setting up a pile of wood in the middle of the beach. Mignyu leaves the rest to run up to him and Mingyu smiles as Vernon catches him. "Are we make a bonfire?" Mingyu asks and Vernon nods. I have a bunch of blankets at the back. You mind helping me?" Vernon asks and Mingyu nods. They walk up inside and Mignyu follows Vernon behind the counter and inside a room and Vernon hands him a stack of folded blankets and towels before walking out. Vernon grabs more wood and a huge, old looking skillet set at the side of the counter. Mingyu follows him out and he sees everyone crowding the firewood Vernon had set out before. Mingyu smiles as Chan runs up to them and Vernon shows him the huge pan dish thing and he sets it on the sand and he stacks the wood on some very specific way a he doused the bottom ones with gas and stacks a few more before lighting the fire with a long lighter Mingyu mostly sees in restaurants and he watches as the wood blazes. 

"This is nice." Seungcheol says, They're sitting around the fire with a few of their co-workers with their own drinks and Mingyu leans on Seungcheol's shoulder. "Tomorrow we rest up and then it's back to work." Jia says on the other side of the fire and Mingyu boos her. Light laughter fills the air along with the soft crashing of the waves and Mingyu sighs. "This is the best place we've been to yet." Seungyeon says and Mingyu smiles. Other than their team, everyone has had experience traveling overseas. But Singapore was basically just work the moment they left the plane and they were too tired to even have the energy to look around when they were done. Then there's HongKong. Again, more work than anything else. Their schedule here is just perfectly timed for them to have days to breathe in fresh air before diving into work. Mingyu raises his beer and clears his throat. "To Jeon and Company." Mingyu says and everyone joins in and raises their drinks. 

They eventually go on their own way back one by one and Jia offers Seungcheol a spot on their car on their way out. Seungcheol says goodbye to everyone and kisses Mingyu on his cheek just to be obnoxious and Mingyu groans as he pushes him off. The last to leave was their group and Mingyu isn't saying it's because of Chan but if Chan wasn't the designated driver Mingyu had a feeling he'd even ask to stay the night. When Mingyu tells this to Seungeyon Chan turns to glare at him and Mingyu tries to hide his laugh behind Seungyeon and Seungyeon turns around to hide his as well. Vernon tells them his good night and an invitation to come back any time they want to when they are walking towards their car, Mingyu catches up with Vernon and remembers to give the photo to him. Vernon laughs, hides the photo behind him when Chan turns, and he holds up his fist towards Mingyu and Mingyu thinks this is his first ever fist bump in all of his life. Vernon tells Chan to drive safely and to call whenever and Mingyu holds himself back from asking when he even got his number. Chan tells him a soft and gentle good night and then starts groaning at them when they've already driven off. 

Mingyu is not really sure how, but he finds himself lying down on a hard surface looking up at such an unfamiliar ceiling. And when he tries to lift his legs and pull himself down by bringing them down, he feels the cool splash of water on his skin. Mingyu looks down and finds himself sitting at the edge of the pool, his feet submerged under water. Mingyu blinks, smiles at himself, and he sighs. "Hey." Someone says behind him and Mingyu expects it to be Jihoon. And it is. He's pulling down his shirt over his stomach. He's wearing those weird flowy sleeping pants and is just barefoot and his hair tells Mingyu he's just woken up. "Hey. Sorry. Did I wake you?" Mingyu asks and Jihoon just stares at him. "You should go to bed, Mingyu." Jihoon says and Mingyu nods. "I should. But I don't feel like sleeping." Mingyu finds himself saying and Jihoon sighs. "How drunk are you?" Jihoon asks and Mingyu takes a moment to think. "Seungcheol's birthday party in that one club where they I.D.ed you when we were going inside. Or Seungcheol’s enlistment party." Mingyu smiles at the memory and he catches Jihoon's one second smile before he's grunting and walking towards Mingyu. "I guess that means you're drunk enough to not be allowed to be alone." Jihoon says and he sits cross legged on the floor. "I am also drunk enough to not feel like shit while talking to you. Which would make one think of getting drunk every single night they staying here." Mingyu says and he smiles at Jihoon only to find him looking like He needs a drink. 

Mingyu should really not be left alone when drunk. 

"Sorry. Depressing jokes are kind of a well honed skill of mine." Mignyu says and Jihoon scoffs. "You used to hate it when i do them." "Guess you're to blame for it, then?" Mingyu says and this time he holds Jihoon's gaze. "Both for teaching me the basics and, you know, giving me enough time to practice by myself." Mingyu says and he suddenly has this urge to lie back down on the cool ground again. "Mingyu. Look-" "Don't. Please. I do not want to hear whatever the fuck you think I deserve to hear." Mingyu says and Mingyu pushes himself back, dragging his feet off of the water and into the dry floor. He pushes himself up, staggering as he does so all by himself, and he smiles at Jihoon's stupid frown as he successfully gets up. Mingyu walks away, walks towards the door to their house, and he hears Jihoon getting up on his feet. "Just tell me this one thing." Mingyu says, facing the door. "You didn't leave because of me. Right? I didn't have anything to do with why you think you had to disappear?" Mingyu asks. "Mingyu, I just-" "It's a yes or no question, hyung." Mingyu cuts him off and he audibly sighs. "No. You were the one good thing I had back then." Jihoon says. And Mingyu can feel that he said it to make Mingyu ask. To make Mingyu turn and make him explain. 

But Mingyu's tired of giving in. 

"Good night, hyung." Mingyu says and he hopes Jihoon doesn't see nor hear Mingyu's shaking hand on the doorknob as he gets in. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 01/21/21


	5. SCHEMATIC DESIGN PHASE

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Schematic Design Phase consists of the preparations of schematic design studies derived from the Project Definition Phase, leading to conceptual plans. The Architect:
> 
> 1\. evaluates the Owner's program, schedule, budget, project site and proposes methods of project deliveries.   
> 2\. prepares the initial line drawings representing design studies leading to a recommended solution, including a general description of the project for approval by the Owner.   
> 3\. submits to the Owner a Statement of the Probable Project Construction Cost (SPPCC) based on durrent cost parameters.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author: *sets everything on fire on purpose*
> 
> Author, sitting in the middle of said fire: This is Fine

  
  
  


Seungcheol once told Mingyu that he's not so sure if Mingyu's internal switch to go full focused work mode is a good thing or not. And Mingyu can see why he would say so. Mingyu's the type to usually just let his thoughts wander around his head and most of the time they even wonder out through his mouth. Unfiltered. But somewhere along the years, Mingyu finds his thoughts locked up there. He can hear himself getting louder and louder like the pressure of his thoughts building up and compressing more and more throughout the day until he's on the verge of imploding. 

And one thing that Mingyu can do to avoid that is to work. 

Mingyu spends his entire Sunday morning nursing a hangover and then spends the rest of the afternoon nursing a fake hangover when Wonwoo invites them out. Mingyu kindly declines and Chan saves him by saying even they got turned down when they invited him out. So when Wonwoo and Jihoon left, Chan and Seungyeon asked him once more if he wanted to come with them to drive around and hang out with Vernon again and Mingyu smiles and tells them to go ahead. Chan still had the keys from the night before so Mingyu sees them off by the gate and walks back into the house to lie on the couch. After five minutes of overthinking, he eventually gets up, takes his laptop from his room, and plays music while he sketches variations of plans on his journal. He initially designed the floorplan to have the living room look out into the sea but then scratched that off and opted for a plan where the bedrooms and most of the kitchen face towards the view. it's a bit tricky since Mingyu's ideals for optimizing the view goes against proper basic orientation guidelines in designing a house. The kitchen on the afternoon sun, The bedrooms on the north for less harsh sunlight, basic concepts like those. Bubt Mingyu wants to focus more on how the main focus of the house isn't the house but the vicinity itself. 

Then it hit him. 

He flips through his notes, a bunch of scribbles and reminders and some random ideas all cramped inside the pages of his journal, and then he sees it.  _ Jeju Provincial Art Museum _ . Mingyu smiles and looks it up on his laptop and he opens a bunch of tabs about the place. It's this beautiful and sturdy building built by  _ Gansam Architects & Associates _ that Mingyu actually used as inspiration for the initial plan. It's main concept is emphasizing Jeju Island. Literally just that. By looking out from the inside, the natural beauty or the surrounding land acts as a backdrop for the very creative and artistic cultural experience of the museum. Mingyu wants so badly to visit the museum at least once during their stay here and he hopes he can pencil it in his rather cramped timeframe. The museum itself is just perfect. It's designed as a circular loop that makes this sort of interaction between the interior and the exterior spaces. The materials are great and well thought of with regards to their concept, and even the shapes on the interior resemble regular cubes as their basic shape. It's simple and elegant and it holds so much emphasis on space and transitions and even permeability. The pool surrounding it acts as a water feature and also as a device to reflect sun into the building. 

**_"I like how open it feels. It makes the house feel less of a building and more of an actual home."_ **

Wonwoo's words ring through Mingyu's head and he smiles at how perfect everything seems to be. How everything aligns with each other and how their image of a perfect home is something Mingyu can see, too. Mingyu leans back on the sofa, looks out the open door, and sees the edge of the swimming pool and the entrance to the main house. Mingyu does a bubble diagram of the plan and then sketches the basic shape of the house over it. He then tries to realign everything with the lot and he gets an initial look at the building footprint. He checks the time on his laptop and sees that its- 

It's barely two in the afternoon. 

Mingyu sighs. He closes his laptop and tries to think of what else he could do. If he starts the plan now they're gonna come back with Mingyu's nose up on his laptop and Mingyu's gonna look like the most killjoy team leader ever for skipping out on a Sunday afternoon jsut to make his fucking floorplan. Mignyu knows they're all friends but he still doesn't want them to think he's not cool. He's barely cool as it is. So Mingyu thinks of cooking but then remembers a pretty empty fridge and pantry they all agreed to fill later in the night. So Mingyu sighs, looks outside, and Wonwoo's reminder seems to give Mingyu an idea. So Mingyu gets in his room, changes, and goes out to the pool. 

**_Polaroid 27: time off_ **

The thing about swimming is that for Mingyu, it's almost like a whole new place. A whole new world he can escape to once he's under the surface and closes his eyes. Mingyu likes it better when the water is cold but this feels like a good alternative. The water is just cool and Mingyu can still feel the warmth of the sun on him as he stays under. He lets himself lean back more, just floating on his back under the surface for as long as his breath could let him. Mingyu doesn't really remember when he started liking doing this nor even why he likes it. He just likes the little window of escape he can have from the real world. 

And this is just the perfect place to be right now. 

The sun filters through the surface as he dives and he likes the warm touch along with the cold water that embraces him. He dives deeper until he can feel the floor at the bottom and then he flips himself to face up. He stays down for as long as his breath can allow him and kicks his feet up to break the surface when he has to take a breath. He does this for a while, pushing himself to last longer, and then he just swims laps back and forth from one end of the pool to another. The only recollection he has of time is the amount of color the sun disperses onto the sky. The lazy blue slowly thinning out into a warmer and deeper purple and hints of pinks and oranges scatter around the clouds as Mingyu floats on his back in the middle of the pool. He takes a deep breath and then pushes himself under the water, swimming towards the deeper end of the pool when he hears the deep growling vibration coming from the water. He pushes his head up when he gets to the edge, one hand holding onto the ledge as he looks towards the gate, and he sees Wonwoo's minivan pulling up from the open gate. Mingyu has this awkward feeling growing in the pit of the stomach that feels more like he's about to get caught. Wonwoo comes out and walks towards the pool instead of going inside. He smiles at Mingyu and Mingyu can't do much but just smile back. "I guess Chan was right." Wonwoo says and he walks up to Mingyu with a paper bag in his arms and he pulls out a couple of beers as he walks by. "Can I keep you company?" Wonwoo asks and Mingyu nods. 

Mingyu pushes himself up out of the water and sits on the edge of the pool and he's suddenly reminded of the night before. Sitting on the very spot with Jihoon staring at him instead of his other half. "I want to start this off by saying that I don't want to like, talk as your client or anything. It's technically your day off anyways." Wonwoo says and Mingyu laughs. Wonwoo uncaps a surprisingly cold beer using another bottle and he hands Mingyu the first one. "And I do know that it's not my place, I know it isn't and I hope you know that i know that. But I kind of want to talk about Jihoon." Wonwoo says and Mingyu smiles. He kind of saw this coming anyway. He's gonna have to deal with it sooner or later anyways. "Of course." Mingyu says and Wonwoo lets out a relieved sigh. "Well I guess I should start with an apology? For how I acted the first time we met." Wonwoo says and Mingyu finds it amusing to see him actually look embarrassed by it. "You have to understand that there's suddenly this man from my fiance’s past that I don't know about who happens to also be my father's obvious favorite. I was bound to hate you in some way." Wonwoo says and Mingyu laughs. "But I regret that. I didn't mean to like, make things weird or anything. And I can see why you are my dad's favorite. You're really great at what you do, Mingyu. I kind of feel like, in some fucked up way, you'd do better living my life than I would." Wonwoo says and now Mingyu feels like drinking. 

Wonwoo had always looked unbreakable to Mingyu. It may have just been his own tinted perspective of him, yeah, but he still looked pretty indestructable to Mingyu. He has a way with words whenever they talk about whatever it may be and Mingyu is way too aware of Jihoon and Wonwoo to know that Jihoon leans on him more than he does on Jihoon. Architect Jeon has mentioned his family a lot and there's not one chance he would let pass by that he didn't brag about his son. But Mingyu can see now that the grass really is greener on the other side. 

"When I met Jihoon, I honestly didn't think he'd be a huge part of my life. We didn't know it'd end this way for the two of us. But I am happy with him. And I'm happy that he's happy with me. But there's always this tugging in my gut telling me that I stole him from something. Stole him from someone." Wonwoo says and Mingyu almost drops his bottle in the pool. "Oh no. Wonwoo, it's not like that." Mingyu defends immediately and Wonwoo laughs softly. He moves to the edge of the pool as well and lets his feet go under the water, drenching the bottom edges of his shorts as he looks up at the colors of the sunset spilling out in the sky. "I can't tell you how but I know that this life, the one he has with me, isn't the perfect one he had wanted for himself. And besides. I know that, Mingyu. I highly doubt you even took this project for Jihoon." Wonwoo says and Mingyu sighs. "But what I meant was Jihoon. I think you remind Jihoon of the life he could've had. The life that didn't involve needing me." Wonwoo says and Mingyu doesn't know what to say. "Sorry. I'm not... What i wanted to say was I hope you two figure stuff out. I think Jihoon really wants to, I don't know... Mend your bond, or something." Wonwoo says and Mingyu laughs a little. "Like in Brave?" Mingyu asks and Wonwoo turns to him and laughs. "Obviously I meant it more seriously than that." Wonwoo says and Mingyu nods. "Sorry. I tend to say stupid shit when things get way too serious." Mingyu admits and Wonwoo takes a couple of gulps of his beer. "It's okay. I just hope Jihoon's dad doesn't push him off edge after today." Wonwoo says and Mingyu sets down his bottle before he could drop it. 

"What is it?" Wonwoo asks and Mingyu blinks. "You know Jihoon's dad?" Mingyu asks and Wonwoo looks at him weirdly. "What? Of course I know him. He's the reason..." Wonwoo trails off and he seems to realize what's going on. "You don't know." Wonwoo says. It was quiet and a lot softer than before, and Mingyu nods. "So you don't know anything about his family?" Wonwoo asks and Mingyu shrugs. "Whenever I bring it up Jihoon- Uhm, changes the topic." Mingyu's not about to tell him Jihoon distracts him with sex every single time he tries to bring it up. Especially since it was obviously effective on Mingyu. "I guess... I guess that makes much more sense." Wonwoo says and Mingyu watches as his face completely changes. He looks dejected. His features, all sharp and bold, slowly goes dull. The light painting his face more clearly for Mingyu and Mignyu feels very lost. "What does?" Mingyu asks and Wonwoo turns to him with a forced smile. "You should talk to him, Mingyu. And I am not gonna lie and say it'd benefit you more than him but I hope it would at least give both of you a chance to clear things out." Wonwoo says and Mingyu just wants to ask more questions. But the gate suddenly whirs to life, opening by itself, and they can see Migyu's rented car driving inside with Seungcheol in the passenger seat smiling and waving at them. "Looks like we have more company." Wonwoo says and he gets up and walks off. His wet foot prints leaving a trail of dark shapes on the concrete and He goes inside their house and then walks on over to the front door to welcome them in. Mingyu's left with a bigger migraine now compared to the one his hangover left for him and he knows it's a Sunday but he's determined to find every story at the bottom of every bottle that he can.

Chan, Seungyeon, and Seungcheol came in loud and carrying at least one paper bag in each arm. Chan asks Wonwoo if it was okay for them to have dinner together and Wonwoo tells him his bright "Of course" and then sets the table with him. Seungcheol walks up to Mingyu and asks him how he was as Mingyu dries his hair and drapes his towel around his shoulder. Mingyu excuses himself to go and change and he drags Seungcheol with him to his room. Mingyu leaves Seungcheol on his bed as he changes in the bathroom and he tells him everything Wonwoo's told him. Seungcheol is just as lost about everything as he is and Mingyu sighs before begrudgingly going back out to dinner in the main house. When they get there, though, Jihoon is already by the table, talking to Wonwoo, and when Seungcheol and Mingyu walk up inside he freezes and stares at Seungcheol. "Hey." Seungcheol says and Jihoon just kept staring. "Hyung." Jihoon says and Mingyu kind of liked seeing Jihoon like this. He looks like he's back to being in his early twentys, looking up at Seungcheol as Seungcheol smiles. "I think I remember Wonwoo hyung saying something about beers." Chan says and Wonwoo runs a hand over Jihoon's back and smiles. He goes out to get to his car and Mingyu lets Seungcheol sit next to Chan and he sits right across from him, sitting next to where Wonwoo would. 

Dinner was more or less normal. Chan and Seungcheol carry most of the conversation with Wonwoo as Wonwoo and Suengcheol get acquainted, while Seungyeon only adds a few things here and there with Mingyu and Jihoon just sits and eats dinner quietly. Mingyu admits to having this fucked up jealousy over Jihoon's reaction to Seungcheol compared to his reaction with him. When they met again in architect Jeon's office he was smiling and proudly introducing his fiance to Mingyu. But when he sees Seungcheol for the first time in a long time, he freezes and looks like he's about to cry. And Mingyu hates it. Hates the fact that Jihoon still holds that much power over Mingyu's head. 

After dinner, Wonwoo offers Seungcheol to stay for a few more drinks but he politely declines and tells him they do have work in the morning. Mingyu offers to drive Seungcheol back to their place since he's the only one who didn't drink during dinner, and Seungcheol takes up Wonwoo's offer to come back soon. Mingyu tells Chan about the plans he made in his laptop and tells them to leave it in the living room for the morning. Chan nods and promises not to touch anything and Mingyu smiles at how good of a mood Chan is in. "I wouldn't be surprised." Seungyeon says when Mingyu told him about it. "Four of us went out, us three and Vernon, and they've made both me and Seungcheol feel like we're third wheeling their date. It's sickening. I can't believe he'd use his powers on my best friend like that." Seungyeon says and Chan laughs at something Wonwoo or Seungcheol said, making them all turn to give him their attention. 

"So. Technically, Wonwoo doesn't know much about his life before meeting him and you know nothing about him after he met Wonwoo." Seungcheol asks and Mingyu sighs. Driving while trying not to think about it is proven difficult especially with detective Seungcheol taking it upon himself to crack whatever code he seems to have noticed in there. Mingyu had dropped Chan and Seungyeon on the mini grocery mart close by as he drove Seungcheol back. "Can we not?" Mingyu asks and Suengcheol sighs. "Fine.. But we are gonna talk about it." Seungcheol says and Mingyu shrugs. "Honestly, I don't want anything to do with it anymore. Jihoon's problem is Jihoon's problem and I'm sure he and his husband can figure it out." Mingyu says and Seungcheol hums. "Okay. Something definitely happened." Seungcheol saysa nd Mingyu sighs. "Come on. I've been drinking with you since you had your first beer, Mingyu. You don't get hangovers." Mingyu scoffs at the accusation but he also knows he can't lie to Seungcheol. "Last night... I somehow ended up by the pool. And Jihoon may have tried to talk to me but I basically just drowned his chance and broke its neck for good measure." Mingyu says and Seungcheol lets out a heavy sigh. "But I did find out that it wasn't me." Mingyu adds. "I wasn't the reason he left. I wasn't even part of the reason he left." Mingyu says and Seungcheol laughs. "Now you're just lying to yourself. Mingyu, you never once thought you had anything to do with it." Seungcheol saysa nd Mingyu groans. "Yes, I did. And now I'm over it and i'm over him and I can live with the rest of my life with a clean slate and no more excess baggage." Mingyu says, claims it out loud to make himself believe. "Mingyu that's never been what you wanted from Jihoon. You know you weren't the reason he left and you were just hurt because he didn't trust you enough to tell you." Seungcheol argues and Mingyu takes a deep breath. "Why are you so adamant about telling me I'm wrong about this?" "Because you are! And you're lying to yourself to make yourself feel better about Jihoon living his life." "What would you even know about how I feel about Jihoon leaving? You weren't even there!" 

Mingyu almost drives by Seungcheol's hotel and he barely manages to hit the breaks by the curb to park the car. He sits there in silence, hands still on the steering wheel, as Seungcheol takes a deep breath. "Hyung-" "Don't. It's fine." Seungcheol cuts him off. "No, it's.. it's not. I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that." Mingyu says and he still can't make himself look at Seungcheol. "I know you would've been there for me if you could have and I never held that against you, ever, because it's not-" "You were hurt, and you needed me. But I wasn't there. I know." Seungcheol says and Mingyu groans. "Do you know what Jihoon told me the last time we met?" Seungcheol asks. "He told me you looked up to me a lot. Because you don't have an older sibling and you don't have a brother, too. He told me he's glad you have me." Seungcheol says and Mingyu can't really say much to that. He doesn't really know what to say about that, really. "And I know how bad it must've been during that time. You don't have to pretend." Seungcheol says and Mingyu sighs. "It just sucks. It felt like... It felt like I lost you both at the same time." Mingyu said and Seungcheol nodded. "You kept telling me it's not my fault for not being there but it's also not your fault for wanting someone to lean on back then." Seungcheol says and Mingyu nods. "I feel like you still haven't gotten over that because we never really talked about it." Seungcheol says and Mingyu laughs softly. "I'm really good at evading topics I don't want to talk about." Mingyu says and Seungcheol laughs. "I know." he says and Seungcheol gets out of the car and Mingyu gets out as well. Mingyu walks around the car and gives Seungcheol a hug. "We can talk more about it sometime soon, okay? Talking actually helps fix these kinds of things, you know?" Seungcheol says and he pats Mingyu's back. He pulls away and walks inside and Mingyu gets in and hits his horn a couple of times before driving back home. 

When he picks Chan and Seungyeon up, he lets their conversation fill the car as he drives them home. And as Mingyu parks his car and gets out, he sees Jihoon sitting on the edge of the pool with a bottle of beer on his right. He was about to walk towards him when he saw Wonwoo walk up to him and sit next to him. Mingyu sighs, goes back to his car to help Chan with the other paper bags and then slams the door harder and bit louder than he needs to, and he walks around the house to smile at them as he heads for their house. "You're back. Wanna join us for a few more drinks?" Wonwoo asks and Chan and Seungyeon tell them about work in the morning and Wonwoo smiles at them and Mingyu watches as they walk in their door. Mingyu smiles at them from where he's standing, smiles at the both of them, and he feels relieved at Jihoon's small smile. "I think I'm good for tonight, too." Mingyu says and he walks past them towards the door. "But uhm," Mingyu says, turning, "maybe next time?" Mingyu asks, looking at Jihoon, and Jihoon blinks at him. "Sure Mingyu." Wonwoo answers for Jihoon and Mingyu nods. He tells them a good night and goes inside. 

  
  


Mingyu's schedule is the closest thing he'll ever get to having his shit together. He revels in the way he pencils in stuff in his planners (plural because he has one for his work and one for his social life) and it's honestly the only thing holding some sort of control over Mingyu's otherwise chaotic life. 

By the end of the week, Chan had sent their working drawings over to architect Jeon for confirmation and Mingyu had also familiarize himself with his environment enough to know where to buy groceries and what kind of bread to make at three in the morning. He's glad their oven was operational and Wonwoo even urges Mingyu to use it as many times as he wants to keep it from being left stagnant and, well, Let's just say Mingyu's grocery have mainly gone into flour, eggs, and milk. Chan and Seungyeon have made a makeshift office on the dining table in the middle of the house and Mingyu uses his desk in his room as his own office. Having the cool breeze sneak in his room through the open window is definitely a step above their office. "Hey." Chan knocks on Mingyu's office- bedroom. His bedroom since it is six at night. "Wonwoo was wondering if you wanna help us in the kitchen for a big dinner." Chan asks and Mingyu sits up. "Oh, sure. Let me just, uh, freshen up a bit." Mingyu says and Chan rolls his eyes and closes his door. 

In some weirdly fucked up way, Mingyu ended up really getting along well with Wonwoo. His morning workout alone turned into the time they say their good morning as Wonwoo goes for his run and it then gradually turns into a schedule of working out on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and going out for a run on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. After that is making breakfast together, which Wonwoo insisted they should all just have inside the main house, and Mingyu agrees only if he does most of the cooking. After that, it's an eight to five work schedule that they had to change to an eight to six schedule so they can have eleven to one as their lunch time given how they have to cook their own lunch. Then their downtime is mainly pretty boring so the three of them just work together to make dinner but on their lazy nights they'd just go out and get dinner at the Husk. Most nights Seokmin would call and Mingyu would see him and Seungcheol through his laptop screen right before going to bed and falling asleep. Then repeat the cycle. 

In the week that they've been here, Mignyu had managed to finish the plan with Chan and Seungyeon's help and with Wonwoo's and Jihoon's opinion after seeing the first draft of it on Tuesday. They're Mingyu's favorite kind of client. Very open to discussion but still respects Mingyu enough to have the final say in what should be done. It may have a lot to do with Jihoon being a civil engineer and knowing exactly what Mingyu's position means but he knows more civil engineers who think they can handle an architect's job as if they're qualified for it than otherwise. It's nice to have a competent and mature engineer for once. 

Mingyu walks out of their house to go to the main house and he sees Wonwoo by the stove as Jihoon and Chan are fixing the table. "Seungyeon hyung's on a call about the  _ HDB  _ project we had last year." Chan says as Mignyu walks in and Mingyu nods and heads for the kitchen. "What does  _ HDB  _ stand for?" Wonwoo asks, flipping something on the stove. "A high density building. It's a building that's built up in many levels so a lot more people can live in a small, like, surface area of land." Mingyu answers as he washes his hands. "Oh, is this for a salad?" Mingyu asks and Wonwoo nods. Mingyu pulls the colander full of vegetables and sets it on the sink to wash. "So they're kind of like, apartments? Or condo units?" Wonwoo asks and Mingyu shrugs. He pulls out the chopping board on the drawer next to the sink and sets to slice the bottom of the lettuce and washes each leaves carefully. "Well, Kind of? But  _ HDB  _ are built to have like, almost everything a community would need. A perfect one would have housing on the top, a recreational space in the middle part, like a mall or something like that, and some would even have day care centers or schools." Mingyu explains and he slices up the rest of the vegetables and tosses them in a huge bowl. "So basically, you're taking a whole community and like, turning it into a single burrito of a building." Wonwoo asks and Mingyu laughs. "I guess? I never thought of it that way." Mingyu says and Wonwoo sets aside what Mingyu can see as spam from the pan. "Think about it. Burritos are basically putting a little bit of everything into one wrap. That's what that is." Wonwoo saysa and Mingyu nods. Wonwoo then asks Mingyu to pull out most of the side dishes they have on their refrigerator as he keeps frying stuff.

Their dinner is a lot more relaxed now. Chan and Seungyeon are able to talk more comfortably with the couple, enough to even joke with them, and Mingyu does too. After dinner Jihoon pops open a wine that has a fancy sounding name that Mingyu does not like the taste of and Wonwoo hands him a bottle of beer instead. Mingyu and Wonwoo then fall into a conversation about Wonwoo's book, the one he gave Mingyu, and Mingyu asks him everything he can about the chapter he's read and they exchange a lot of ideas about them, some even takes Wonwoo by surprise, telling Mingyu he never thought of interpreting that part like that and Mingyu just lets himself stand in the praise for a hot second. 

Then the thing happens. 

Okay, so it's been made clear that Mingyu is dramatic. There's no other word for it. He reads into things more than any author he's ever met and he's met with a lot of authors. A guy could do the absolute bare minimum, like hold a door open for him as he goes out of a coffee shop or something and Mingyu's mind would immediately blare red alert sirens notifying him that the man is indeed flirting with him. Seokmin thinks it's okay but Seungcheol had repeatedly told him it's stupid. Mingyu had assumed a lot of times and, yeah, most times he's right. Because, let's be honest. Men, regardless of sexual orientation, will most probably only be nice to you if they are attracted to you. It's more prominent in straight men, yeah, but Mingyu knows gay guys are worse at this. Straight guys would at least pretend like they're actually nice and not only being nice to look more desirable. Gay guys do not give a shit about your opinion on them if they do not find you relevant at all. 

But that's not the point. 

The point is the fourteen second press of a gentle hand on Mingyu's thigh. 

And again. Mingyu reads into things a lot. He once thought Chan had a crush on him and he most definitely is wrong with that, and he's wrong about this one too. Probably. He thinks. 

But the thing is, the, you know,  _ the thing _ has happened more than Mingyu can count with both hands. It was subtle at first. Almost too casual to get Mingyu's attention. Like a pat on his back, a hand on his arm as Wonwoo catches his breath on their morning runs, and the one that really got Mingyu thinking is Wonwoo and his lack of personal space... boundary. He would slowly walk up behind Mingyu, letting him know he's coming up, and then would talk over his shoulder as Mingyu cooks. This one happens the most out of everything and Mingyu's too ashamed to think there's anything going on there because he's too ashamed to admit to liking it. To liking what it feels. To liking the attention. 

"Babe, I'm gonna need your help unearthing pool things for tomorrow." Jihoon says on the other side of the table and Wonwoo nods. He pats Mingyu's thigh twice, a very casual, bro thing to do, and he gets up and runs upstairs. "What's tomorrow?" Chan asks and Jihoon takes a sip of his wine. "Oh, we were thinking of throwing a party. For, you know, new house and all. And it's only a few close friends we have." Jihoon says and Chan nods. "Does it start early? We can probably leave and do a lot more touristy things tomorrow." Mingyu says and Jihoon shakes his head. "We actually wanted you guys to come. You can even ask your friends to come with, too." Jihoon says and Mingyu looks at Chan and Seungyeon, both smiling already, and Mingyu nods. "Sure. That'd be awesome." Mingyu says and Jihoon smiles. "Good." Wonwoo says, walking down with a huge cardboard box in his hands. "Because I kind of wanted to ask if you could maybe help me cook tomorrow?" Wonwoo asks and Mingyu laughs. "Ah. So that's why we're invited." Minngyu says and Wonwoo laughs. "He'll do it." Chan says and Mingyu sighs. "He will. Also is this like a casual hangout or do i have to look cool in front of important people?" Seungyeon asks and Jihoon shakes his head with a smile. "It's just a small party. Really. We'll mostly order in food aside from the barbeque that Wonwoo insisted on doing by himself." Jihoon says and Wonwoo shrugs. "By himself?" Mingyu asks and Jihoon nods. "By himself." Jihoon confirms. "I just need help in watching the grill. Come on." Wonwoo says and Mingyu sighs. "I wasn't gonna say no anyways, don't worry." Mingyu says and Wonwoo smiles. "Thanks." 

Wonwoo asks them if they had wanted to hang around the pool for the night before they drain it later tonight to properly clean in tomorrow and Chan and Seungyeon told them they're going out with Vernon again. "Actually, I'm gonna hangout here." Mingyu says and Chan nods. "Of course. Why did we even think we could compete with a pool." Chan says and Seungyeon laughed. "That, and I'm kind of too tired for any social interaction tonight. Tell Vernon I said hi." Mingyu says and Chan nods. Mingyu hangs around the house as Chan and Seungyeon change and get ready, this time Seungyeon takes the keys from him since it was Chan who was the designated driver last time and he whispers to Mingyu that Chan just wants to drunk-flirt with Vernon. Chan hits his shoulder and drags him out of the house. Mingyu sees Wonwoo making a makeshift bar with a foldable table by the edge of the pool and Chan greets them with a loud goodbye as he drags Seungyeon to the car. "You staying?" Wonwoo asks and Mingyu repeats his mantra of  _ he's not flirting he's not flirting he's not flirting _ as Wonwoo looks him directly in the eye with a soft smile on his face. "Yeah. I'm all tapped out on socializing." Mingyu says as the car drives off and Mingyu waves at them one last time as Wonwoo nods. "Does joining us for our late night pool party be considered socializing?" Wonwoo asks. Mingyu shrugs. "I guess not if we just drink and swim without much talking?" Mingyu offers and Wonwoo laughs. "Alright then. Go change and i'll impress you with my bartending and drink mixing skills." Wonwoo says and his smile turns a lot less soft and a lot more sharp. Mingyu tries to not make it obvious as he walks away from the pool and into their house and he runs to his room. 

And like the tax-paying and level headed adult that Mingyu is, he does the most adult thing he could do. 

_ "Back up a bit. Jihoon's husband kissed you?" _ Seokmin asks and Mingyu groans. "No! I'm saying my fucked up head is telling me that he might want to kiss me." Mingyu says and Seungcheol sighs.  _ "Are you sure you're not drunk?" _ Seungcheol asks and he glares at the camera of his phone as a response to that.  _ "Okay, okay. Calm down. What you're saying is you think he's flirting with you. Right?" _ Seokmin asks and Mingyu nods. _ “Then talk to him."  _ Seokmin says and Mingyu laughs. "Right. Because I'm  _ so good _ at confrontation and making conversation." Mingyu deadpans and Seungcheol even had the audacity to laugh.  _ "Mingyu. How old are you?" _ Seokmin asks and Mingyu sighs. "I'm well aware of my age and what I'm supposed to be capable of by this time. But that doesn't help the fact that I am a complete dumbass in front of hot men and I'm pretty sure I'm gonna embarrass-"  _ "Hot men?"  _ Seungcheol asks and Seokmin gasps.  _ "Mingyu!" _ "Shut up! It's not like that!" Mingyu argues and he sighs as Seungcheol starts laughing out loud. "Okay, serious talk. Mingyu, he is engaged. To your ex-something. Ex soulmate? Whatever the fuck you call your thing. That. But, oh my God. Mingyu." Seokmin says and Mingyu sighs. 

_ "I mean it. I'm being serious. When you went on that sexcapade rampage back then I just, you know, reminded you to use protection. And like, drag you to the grocery to make sure you're eating something other than coffee and half-assed toasts. And that was your lowest low. But this is different. If you're doing this to get back at Jihoon I don't think you're being fair with his partner."  _ "Dude. What the fuck? That's not-" Deep breath. "Why is it so hard to believe that i'm over Jihoon?" Mingyu asks, tired of it all, and their unsure and quiet faces are enough of an answer in on itself. "I'm not gonna keep repeating myself about that, okay? I suggest both of you get over it because I am far from over it." Mingyu says and he takes another deep breath. 

"And It felt nice." Mingyu says. Admits with a bitter taste at the back of his throat.  _ "I hope you don't mean what I think you do." _ Seokmin says and Mingyu can't help but laugh. He really has put Seokmin through enough. "I meant the attention. From a decent guy." Mingyu says and Seungcheol sighs.  _ "Look. You're old enough to make your own mistakes and to do the right and mature thing. We're just telling you what we think, okay?"  _ Seungcheol says and Mingyu nods.  _ "And Wonwoo is kind of hot." _ Seungcheol says and now Seokmin scoffs.  _ "That's good to know." _ Seokmin says and Mingyu laughs. _ "It was an observation."  _ Seungcheol says. "An observation that no asked you to make." Seokmin says and his call gets cut off and Mingyu stares as Seungcheol sighs. "Dude. I'm- Oh my God." _ "Don't. He's been kind of down for a while now. I guess we're not that good in long distance." _ Seungcheol says. "Uhm, you've had plenty of overseas projects that lasted for far longer than two weeks." _ "But he had you when i wasn't there. Now he's the one alone." _ Seungcheol says and Mingyu just stares. _ "I'll try to call him again. Message us when you're about to sleep, yeah?" _ Seungcheol says and Mingyu nods. Seungcheol ends the call and Mingyu sits up on his bed. He hears the splash of the pool from the little open space on his window and he peeks at the edge to see Wonwoo and Jihoon. Wonwoo was sitting on the edge of the pool right at the middle, right across from Mingyu's room, and Jihoon was in the pool with his arms around Wonwoo's waist. 

Mingyu is not an idiot. 

Well, there's more proof to counter that than support it but Mingyu's not  _ that _ much of an idiot. 

He genuinely likes Wonwoo. Not in that kind of way but more in the way he loves Seungcheol. Wonwoo's the first friend Mingyu's made in a long while and Mingyu's old enough to know that new friends don't come as easy when you're past a certain age. And Wonwoo is a good friend. A great one, really. He's smart and dependable and, yeah, he is his boss' son, but if anything that makes him a lot more cooler than not. And the fact that Jihoon decided he's good enough to be his husband is also another fucked up way of telling that he's a great guy. Mingyu is far from needing Jihoon's approval but if relationships are a great basis of a man's personality then Wonwoo's a far better guy than Mingyu is. 

"Fuck." Scratch that. No negative and self deprecating thoughts. Imagine Seokmin's angry face and him angrily holding a belt. No wait, a clothe's hanger. 

Mingyu gets up, thinks about leaving his phone or bringing it outside but eventually brings it along with his towel and made sure it's not on silent mode. He smiles at the couple as he gets out and Wonwoo taps Jihoon's arms and gets up as Jihoon let's go. Wonwoo makes his way to the table and smiles at Mingyu. "I'm not sure what kind of drink you'd want so I made a good middle ground of fruity and insane hangover." Wonwoo says and he pours the drink on a glass with ice cubes on and hands it to Mingyu. "I'd take it easy if I were you. Wonwoo's great at that and you won't feel the hit until you're going to get hit hard." Jihoon says from the pool and Mingyu nods. He takes a sip of the blue drink and Jihoon's right. It's way too good and Mignyu doesn't even feel a hint of alcohol in it if it wasn't for the bitter aftertaste. "That's amazing." Mingyu says and he finishes half of the glass. "Okay, maybe don't drink that fast." Wonwoo says with a laugh and Mingyu laughs along. Mingyu sets his towel on the edge of the pool right next to the table and he dips his feet in the water. "I'm glad someone's joining me." Jihoon says and Mingyu turns to Wonwoo. "Not that much of a fan of pools. Or like, any big bodies of water." Wonwoo says and Mingyu scoffs. "Oh and you thought it'd be a great idea to live in Jeju? Of all places? Your house is by the sea view, Wonwoo." Mingyu says because he feels like he should remind him about it just in case he actually didn't know and Jihoon laughs. "He likes it here. He just doesn't do deep waters." Jihoon says and Mingyu nods. "Okay but, your pool has a four feet side, Wonwoo." Mingyu says and Wonwoo sighs. "Okay, I'm good as the bartender for the night." Mingyu gives him a sour look and Wonwoo laughs. "I'm good!" Wonwoo says, still laughing, and Mingyu shakes his head. "Nope. Come on. It's your pool and you have to at least enjoy it with us." Mingyu says and he gets up from the edge to walk up to Wonwoo and drag him around the pool. Wonwoo just laughs along as he follows Mingyu's lead with his hands on Wonwoo's arms as he pushes him towards the shallow end and Mingyu goes down first and steps down the steps in the pool. "Come on. If anything happens, your boyfriend's right there to save you." Mingyu says, pointing at Jihoon, and Jihoon shakes his head. "I'm not doing anything." Jihoon says from the other end and Wonwoo frowns at him. "Come on." Mingyu says and he tugs Wonwoo down by his hand. 

Wonwoo laughs as he lets the water welcome him in. Wonwoo shivers as he steps on the floor of the pool and Mingyu was more than surprised to feel it even through his hand. "I'm telling you right now that i'm not good with cold and water." Mingyu laughs as he hears this and Wonwoo hits his arm lightly. Mingyu lets go of his hand and walks a bit more into the deeper end. Mingyu stops when the water reaches his neck and he turns to find Wonwoo a distance away with the water coming up just below his chest. "This is as good as it's gonna get Mingyu." Wonwoo says and he walks to the edge of the pool. Mingyu swims under and turns to swim towards the deep end. He reaches the bottom and the end and he kicks up to reach the surface in a swift jump. "I never knew you were much of a swimmer." Jihoon says from the other end and Mingyu smiles. "I wasn't. At least not back then." Mingyu says and Jihoon's smile falters for a second. "But I guess I never really had much time to swim until after i graduated, anyways." Mingyu says and Jihoon nods. "If you guys made me come in just to make me feel left out, it's working." Wonwoo says from the middle of the pool and Mingyu watches as Jihoon laughs softly to himself and kicks himself off the wall and swims to Wonwoo. Mingyu sinks down and goes back up to wet his hair back and he pushes himself up on the edge and gets up to get his drink. 

Wonwoo and Jihoon eventually lifted the table with all the bottles and glasses on it and brought it in the middle for Wonwoo and Mingyu got four more variations of drinks before asking Wonwoo to keep making the first one. They mostly talk right at the edge of the pool, switching positions from being in the water to sitting by the edge to standing up as they eat leftovers and chips to go along with their drinks. But by midnight Wonwoo was sitting on the edge with Mingyu on his left, his arms folded on the edge to keep himself up as the rest of his body was under the water and Jihoon was in the same position on the other side of Wonwoo. "Hey, Mingyu?" Jihoon says and Mingu just keeps looking at his glass in front of him, half empty, as he hums. "Thanks, i guess. For not hating me as much as you should." Jihoon says and Mingyu finds himself sighing. "I never hated you to begin with, anyways. I guess I was just confused. And hurt." Mingyu says and he smiles. "I guess I just loved you enough to not make me hate you as much as I should." Mingyu says and he reaches for his glass and drinks. "I feel like I should apologize too, in a way." Wonwoo says and Mingyu laughs. "For what? Being perfect?  _ Okay _ ." Mingyu teases and Jihoon laughs. "I mean it." Wonwoo says and Wonwoo knocks his knuckles on his head. "I keep thinking that Jihoon was holding out on his past because he was ashamed of it. Turns out he just didn't want me to know that I had nothing over how happy he was with you guys." Wonwoo says and Mingyu takes a deep breath. "I think you made me enough drinks to count as an apology." Mingyu says and Jihoon clears his throat. "A part of me wants to say that I wish things were different. But another part of me is telling me this is what's supposed to be. You know?" Jihoon says and Mingyu clears his throat and downs his drink in two gulps. "Don't say that, hyung. We all ended up pretty successful anyways." Mingyu says and Jihoon sighs. "I don't think that's what he meant, Mingyu." Wonwoo says, placing a gentle hand on Mingyu's bare shoulder. "I wish things weren't so complicated." Jihoon says and Mingyu doesn't say anything. 

"Do you... Do you remember when I dyed my hair? Wait, no. Bleached it." Mingyu says and Wonwoo laughs. "That i gotta see." Wonwoo says and Mingyu huffs. "I'm sure Jihoon has a picture of it somewhere. But anyways, uhm. You remember when my hair kept breaking off while you were rinsing it and all and I had to do it myself because i felt like crying?" Mingyu asks and Jihoon pushes off the edge and looks at Mingyu. "Yeah?" "That's what I want in life. What I want from someone." Mingyu says and he stares at their confused faces. Mingyu laughs and starts waving his hands. "I meant like... When I was rinsing my hair I made sure not to be too rough. I had to like, gently rub my hair instead of combing it through my fingers and all that. I want that kind of tender touch, you know? I want to be taken care of. To be loved and to be adored for no other reason than just them wanting to. I just want to feel wanted. Not just needed." Mingyu says and the look on Jihoon's face looks like a question in itself. "I knew you did love me then, I- I know you did. But it felt like you needed me more than wanted me. And it was nice and perfect but I just want something I know I deserve." Mingyu says and he sighs. He goes to grab for his glass only to see it empty and Wonwoo takes it from his hand before getting up. "I think i understand what you mean." Wonwoo says. "I guess it'd be addicting to have someone want you like that." Wonwoo says. "Have you?" Jihoon asks. "Have i what?" "Have you had someone like that?" Jihoon asks and Mingyu thinks about Minghao. 

"Yes. But it wasn't fair to him for him to want me when I just needed him." 

"I love you too isn't the same as I love you." Mingyu says and he turns to lean back on the edge of the pool. Wonwoo places a hand on his shoulder to help himself sit down and he hands Mingyu his glass. "That actually sounds beautiful. I like it. It's kind of sad to hear, though." Wonwoo says and Mingyu sighs. "For him, I was a lot more than he had wanted. But for me he was exactly what I had been looking for. Something to fit with my life. Someone to fill something I want to avoid and ignore. I've apologized about it a lot of times now but I feel like he's not accepting my apologies right because he doesn't see my fault in that." Mingyu says and Wonwoo hums as if to say that he is listening to Mingyu but he doesn't know what to say. "You talk a lot better when you're kind of drunk." Wonwoo says and Mingyu smiles. "I'll take that as a compliment." Mingyu sets his glass on the edge and pushes back into the pool. Mingyu lets himself float on his back, letting the water cover his ears as he looks up, and he takes a deep breath. 

This feels nice. Swimming while drunk is probably on th etop two of Mingyu's best mistakes ever because as high of a risk it is to swin drunk, it feels fucking super. Mingyu could feel the weightlessness of being in a pool paired with the disorientation that comes along with the alcohol and it's just honestly so the most peaceful bliss Mingyu could ever imagine. He thinks of Jihoon and Wonwoo on the edge of the pool, probably watching him, possibly looking up at the starry and dimly lit sky. He thinks about the entire night and he suddenly feels something weigh in on him out of nowhere. It sits on his skin like how dust from a sack of cement would. But this is as heavy as concrete and just as immobilizing as when it hardens. Then he feels a hand on his shoulder and Wonwoo comes up on his peripheral vision. He tugs Mingyu up and Mingyu shakes the water dripping down the sides of his face as Wonwoo asks him to come sit down with him. "I think you're done swimming for the night." Wonwoo says. Mingyu realizes that if Wonwoo's voice was a drink it would be exactly like Mingyu's drink. It was innocent and nothing out of the ordinary, but it's deceitful. It hit Mingyu hard right where he wished it didn't, and the gentle palm on his back was like the ice that takes the drink a step further. 

Mingyu never had the urge to kiss Seungcheol. He's sure he never had. 

"Look. I-" "It's okay." Wonwoo cuts him off. "I'm... I think we're all a little too brave tonight." Wonwoo says and Mingyu catches himself staring at his lips when he says it. "Trust me. If I was any braver I'd have done somethign very stupid hours ago." Mingyu says and Wonwoo sighs. " _ Jesus _ . I didn't think you'd be like this." Wonwoo says, flustered, and Mingyu hears Jihoon's laugh. "He's a lot worse when he drinks hard liquor." Jihoon says and Mingyu finds himself at the wall of the pool. Wonwoo pushes himself up to sit on the edge and Mingyu follows him, now sitting in the middle of the two as Jihoon stays in the pool. "We're so fucked." Mingyu says and Jihoon nods next to him. "That's when you know it's worth it, though. When you're willing to fuck up." Jihoon says and Mingyu should really get up and leave. Go to sleep. Or even just pretend to sleep. He could call Sengcheol and ask to room for the night. Ask architect Jeon to send him back home. 

But he doesn't do anything. 

Mingyu stays. The three of them ended up huddled together with their towels wrapped around their backs as they ate cold left over salad with too much dressing and nothing but just their fingers. And now Mingyu is faced with the realization that the only reason he thought he isn't affected by Jihoon anymore is because he hasn't faced him head on since they got here. He'd talk to Wonwoo when he's talking to both of them, he'd speak with him with his back turned. Anything to keep as much distance as he could. But facing him now, seeing him smile and talk and laugh the kind of laugh that has him throwing his head back, Mingyu feels himself caving in. 

Loving Jihoon was far easier than pretending like he's forgotten about him already and Mingyu thinks falling for him again won't be any challenge at all. 

Mingyu jumps in his skin when the automated gates make a creaking sound and he clears his throat as he inches back away from the couple. Seungyeon drives the car in and parks it as the gate closes and Chan comes out of the passenger seat with a huge dopey smile on his face as he leans back on the car. Seungyeon walks around the car and wraps his arm around Chan's back and helps him walk towards them. "You guys seem to have had just as much fun as we did." Seungyeon says and Chan smiles at them. "I'm gonna take care of this one and head to bed. I'm exhausted." Seungyeon says and Chan says a slurred out " _ Bye~ _ " as he's dragged inside the house and Mingyu laughs along with the other two as he did.

He gets up and finds himself lost on how to talk to them all of a sudden. "I should head to bed to." Mingyu says and it is so painfully obvious how Mingyu definitely ruined whatever was sitting comfortably in the middle of the three of them. "Hey, Mingyu?" Jihoon says and Mingyu hopes he doesn't look as stupid as he feels. "I missed you. A lot." Jihoon says and Mingyu takes a rather labored inhale. "I... I know I can't do anything to take anything back or make things go back to how they were, but I want to fix things. To fix this." Jihoon says and Mingyu finds himself turning to Wonwoo only to find him smiling at him. "It's a start." Wonwoo says and Mingyu is not sure if he's too drunk or just too stupid to understand what's happening. "Let's talk in the morning. Yeah?" Jihoon asks and Mingyu nods. Jihoon steps in, hugs Mingyu by wrapping his arms around his back and pressing his cheek on Mingyu's chest and he freezes. 

Mingyu finds himself in his room, his damp shorts making his weak knees shake even more.  _...I want to fix things. To fix this. _ Good  _ God _ , Mingyu's weak. He takes a deep breath as his thoughts run a hundred miles per hour and he has to remember to breathe to keep himself alive.  _ It's a start.  _ A start. A start of what? A start towards what? Mingyu's mind reminds him of a map on his skin that Wonwoo's hands had laid down. Like a couple of cartographers dedicated to doing absolutely nothing else. His shoulders still feel heavy and so does that one spot on his lower back that Wonwoo's hand seems to be drawn to. Mingyu leans back on his door, slides down to wrap his arms around his knees, and he breathes. 

Why is it so fuckign hard to breathe?

Mingyu blanks out as he takes a quick hot shower and sends Seungcheol and Seokmin a reply after seeing their message of going to sleep hours ago. Mingyu lies on his bed at half past four in the morning with nothing in his mind but Jihoon's words and Wonwoo's hands. And just as he was on the edge of falling asleep, Mingyu hears his phone chime next to his head. 

**_X.Minghao_ **

_ Hey _

_ I'm not sure what time is it there but I just wanted to tell you something _

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 02/07/2021

**Author's Note:**

> **Prompt:**
> 
> (architecture 101 fusion) (wonwoo/mingyu/jihoon)
> 
> all mingyu knows is how to build: hands, lovingly calloused and graphite-stained, making something of himself for others. there's a degree in architecture hanging somewhere in his office on the 56th floor where he works for the biggest firm in the country, next to the photographs of his family and drawings from his nieces. architectural plans are the 6th love language. 
> 
> so when jihoon (his first love, his first- everything) approaches him to build a house for him and his fiancee in jeju, well, mingyu's always had a hard time saying no to the people he loves the most. and then he meets jihoon's fiance wonwoo, and there's an urge simmering at the bottom of his stomach to build something for himself on jeju too. 
> 
> (ok HEAR ME OUT: to quote this one jigyu fic, no one pines like architect kim mingyu! absolutely no one. college mingyu pining for his graduating upperclassman jihoon, losing contact with him (voluntarily or involuntarily), and meeting years later after approached by jihoon in order to build a house for him and his fiancee wonwoo on jeju, necessitating staying on the island for x number of months overseeing the construction. mingyu's always loved jihoon, that's not a surprise. what is a surprise is falling for wonwoo too. 
> 
> imagine the pining. imagine the emotional dilemma when mingyu realizes he's in love with an ENGAGED COUPLE imagine the emotional dilemma months before when mingyu realizes he's still in love with jihoon and that's maybe sort of the reason why he accepts the invitation to build a house in jeju IMAGINE!!!! jigyuwoo the potential is HERE, the ANGST!!! but endgame jigyuwoo p-leas...e
> 
> this has been a sponsored post by a jigyuwoo citizen who is currently going bonkers


End file.
